Context

• If you choose the yearly/monthly discount package billing mode, purchase a discount package and then create a cluster with the same node specifications and node storage in the region as those of the discount package. For details about how to purchase a discount package, see Discount Package.
• If you choose the pay-per-use billing mode, you can directly create a cluster.

Procedure

1. Log in to the CSS management console.
2. On the Dashboard or Clusters page, click Create Cluster to switch to the Create Cluster page.
3. Specify Region and AZ.

   Region: Select the region for the cluster from the drop-down menu to the right of Region.

   AZ: Select an AZ associated with the cluster region. For details, see What Are Regions and AZs?.

   You can select one or more AZs. For details, see Multi-AZ HA.

4. Set basic information about the cluster. Specifically, specify Version and Name.
   • Version: Currently, versions 5.5.1, 6.2.3, 6.5.4, 7.1.1, and 7.6.2 are supported.
   • Name: Enter a cluster name containing 4 to 32 characters. Only letters, digits, hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are allowed. The value must start with a letter.
     

     After a cluster is created, you can modify the cluster name as required. Click the name of a cluster to be modified. On the displayed Basic Information page, click next to the cluster name. After the modification is completed, click to save the modification. If you want to cancel the modification, click .

   Figure 1 Configuring basic information
   
5. Set host specifications of the cluster.

   Table 1 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Nodes	Number of nodes in a cluster. If neither a master node nor client node is enabled, the nodes specified by this parameter are used to serve as both the master node and client node. In addition, the nodes provide the functions of cluster management, data storage, cluster access, and data analysis. To ensure data stability in the cluster, it is recommended that you set this parameter to a value not less than 3. If only a master node is enabled, the nodes specified by this parameter are used to store data and provide functions of the client node. If both master and client nodes are enabled, the nodes specified by this parameter are only used for storing data. If only the client node is enabled, the nodes specified by this parameter are used to store data and provide functions of the master node.
   CPU Architecture	Currently, x86 and Kunpeng are supported. The exact type is determined by the region selected during cluster creation.
   Node Specifications	Flavor of nodes in a cluster. You can select a type and select a node flavor from the type. Only one node flavor can be selected for each cluster. For details about node flavors, see ECS Types. You cannot select the CPU and memory resources that have been sold out.
   Node Storage Type	In the current version, the following options are available: Common I/O, High I/O, and Ultra-high I/O.
   Node Storage Capacity	Storage space. Its value is related to node specifications and varies with node specifications.
   Master node	The master node manages all nodes in the cluster. If 20 or more nodes are required to store and analyze the large amount of data, you are advised to enable the master node to ensure cluster stability. Otherwise, you are advised to set only the Nodes parameter and purchase nodes as both master and client nodes. After enabling the master node, specify Node Specifications, Nodes, and Node Storage Capacity. The value of Nodes must be an odd number greater than 3. You can set a maximum of nine nodes. The value of Node Storage is fixed. You can select a storage type based on your needs.
   Client node	The client node allows clients to access clusters and analyze data. If 20 or more nodes are required to store and analyze the large amount of data, you are advised to enable the client node to ensure cluster stability. Otherwise, you are advised to set only the Nodes parameter and purchase nodes as both master and client nodes. After enabling the client node, specify Node Specifications, Nodes and Node Storage Capacity. The value of Nodes ranges from 1 to 32. The value of Node Storage is fixed. However, you can select a storage type based on your needs.
   Cold data node	The cold data node is used to store historical data, for which query response can be returned in minutes. If you do not demand for timely query response, store historical data on cold data nodes, reducing costs. This parameter is optional. A maximum of 32 cold data nodes are supported. After enabling the cold data node, CSS automatically adds cold or hot tags to related nodes. For details about the parameters, see https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/allocation-awareness.html.

   Figure 2 Configuring host specifications
   
6. Set network specifications of the cluster. Specifically, specify VPC, Subnet, and Security Group.
   • VPC: A VPC is a secure, isolated, logical network environment.

     Select the target VPC. Click View VPC to enter the VPC management console to view the created VPC names and IDs. If no VPC is available, create a VPC.

     

     The selected VPC must contain CIDRs. Otherwise, cluster creation will fail. By default, a created VPC contains CIDRs.

   • Subnet: A subnet provides dedicated network resources that are isolated from other networks for higher network security.

     Select the target subnet. You can access the VPC management console to view the names and IDs of the existing subnets in the target VPC.

   • Security Group: A security group is a collection of access control rules for ECSs that have the same security protection requirements and are mutually trusted in a VPC. To view more details about the security group, click View Security Group.
     

     Ensure that Port Range/ICMP Type is Any or a port range includes port 9200 for the selected security group.

   • Security Mode: It is supported in version 6.5.4 and later versions. After enabling the security mode, communication is encrypted and authentication is performed on the cluster. The default administrator username is admin, and the password needs to be set and confirmed. For details about the security mode, see Clusters in Security Mode in Service Overview.
   • HTTPS Access: When security mode is enabled for a cluster, HTTPS access is enabled by default. A security cluster uses HTTPS for communication. Compared with a non-security cluster that uses HTTP for communication, the read performance of a security cluster is much slower. If you need fast read performance and user permission isolation for a security cluster to isolate resources (such as indices, documents, and fields), you can disable HTTPS access. After HTTPS access is disabled, HTTP is used to communicate with the cluster. In this case, data security cannot be ensured. In addition, public IP address access cannot be enabled.
   • Public IP Address: You can configure this parameter only when the cluster has the security mode enabled. After enabling this function, you can obtain an IP address for accessing the cluster on the Internet. For details, see Public IP Address Access.
   • Enterprise Project: When creating a CSS cluster, you can bind an enterprise project to the cluster if you enable the enterprise project. You can select an enterprise project created by the current user from the drop-down list on the right or click View Project Management to go to the Enterprise Project Management console to create a new one and view existing projects.
   Figure 3 Configuring network specifications
   
   Figure 4 Configuring network specifications (security mode enabled)
   
7. Advanced Settings: If you select Default, VPC Endpoint Service and Tag functions are disabled by default, and the Automatic Snapshot Creation function is enabled. If you need to configure VPC Endpoint Service, Tag, and Automatic Snapshot Creation functions, select Custom.
8. VPC Endpoint Service: After enabling this function, you can obtain a private domain name for accessing the cluster in the same VPC. For details, see VPC Endpoint Service.
9. Kibana Public Access: You can configure this parameter only when security mode is enabled for a cluster. After enabling this function, you can obtain a public IP address for accessing Kibana. For details, see Kibana Public Access.
10. Tag: Adding tags to clusters can help you identify and manage your cluster resources. You can customize tags or use tags predefined by Tag Management Service (TMS). For details, see Managing Tags.
11. Set parameters related to the cluster snapshot.
    By default, the automatic snapshot creation function is enabled. You can set Snapshot Name Prefix, Backup Started, and Retention Period (days) as required. If you do not need to enable the automatic snapshot creation function, click the icon next to Automatic Snapshot Creation to disable the automatic snapshot creation function.

    • Snapshot Name Prefix: The snapshot name consists of the snapshot name prefix (indicated by this parameter) and time, such as snapshot-1566921603720, which is an automatically generated snapshot name. The snapshot name prefix contains 1 to 32 characters and must start with a lowercase letter. Only lowercase letters, digits, hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are allowed.
    • Backup Started: indicates the time when the backup starts automatically every day. You can only specify this parameter to an hour's time, for example, 00:00 or 01:00. The value ranges from 00:00 to 23:00. Select the backup time from the drop-down list box.
    • Retention Period (days): indicates the duration when snapshots are retained in the OBS bucket, in days. The value ranges from 1 to 90. You can specify this parameter as required. The system automatically deletes snapshots that have been retained for the allowed maximum duration on the half hour.

    For example, if you set the automatic snapshot creation policy as shown in Figure 5, the system, at 00:30 35 days later, will automatically delete the automated snapshots that were created at 00:00 35 days ago.

    Figure 5 Setting parameters related to automatic snapshot creation
    
12. Click Next to switch to the Confirm page.
13. After the specifications are confirmed, click Submit.
14. Click Back to Cluster List to switch to the Clusters page. The cluster you created is listed on the displayed page and its status is Creating. If the cluster is successfully created, its status will change to Available.

    If the cluster fails to be created, create the cluster again as prompted.