Initialize a Node

A new Couchbase Server node can be initialized, to establish node-specific paths for local storage.

Understanding Initialization

Following installation and start-up of Couchbase Server, a node must be:

Initialized, whereby its disk-paths for data, indexes, analytics, and eventing can be established.
Provisioned, whereby all other details, including Full Administrator credentials, service assignments, and memory quota-definitions are established.

Optionally, initialization can be performed explicitly and independently of provisioning, as a prior process, in order to establish custom disk-paths. When the node is subsequently provisioned, these are preserved (unless, as is possible with UI-based provisioning, they are optionally overwritten, and the node is thus re-initialized).

If initialization is not explicitly performed, it will occur as part of the eventual provisioning process, and default disk-path values will be applied.

Note that disk-paths cannot be changed after a node has been provisioned, and has thus either become a cluster of one node, or has been added to a cluster of other nodes.

Examples on This Page

The examples in the subsections below show how to initialize the same node; using the CLI, and the REST API respectively. Note that UI-based initialization only be performed as part of the overall provisioning process.

The examples assume:

Couchbase Server has been installed and started.
The IP address of the node is 10.142.181.103.

Initialize a Node with the CLI

To initialize a node with the CLI, use the node-init command, as follows:

couchbase-cli node-init -c 10.142.181.103 \
-u placeholdername -p placeholderpwd \
--node-init-data-path /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data \
--node-init-index-path /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data \
--node-init-analytics-path /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data \
--node-init-hostname node1-devcluster.com \
--ipv4

This initializes the disk-paths for data, indexes, and analytics on node 10.142.181.103 to the values shown. Note that the command requires that a username and password be specified, although the node has not yet been provisioned with credentials. Placeholders are therefore provided: these can be overwritten during subsequent provisioning. The command additionally specifies IPv4 as the address family for the node, and assigns the node a hostname of node1-devcluster.com. To specify IPv6, use the --ipv6 flag instead.

If successful, the operation returns the following:

SUCCESS: Node initialized

For more information, see the reference for the node-init command.

Initialize a Node with the REST API

To initialize a node with the REST API, use the POST /nodes/self/controller/settings http method and URI, as follows:

curl  -u Administrator:password -v -X POST \
  http://10.142.181.103:8091/nodes/self/controller/settings \
  -d 'path=%2Fopt%2Fcouchbase%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fcouchbase%2Fdata&' \
  -d 'index_path=%2Fopt%2Fcouchbase%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fcouchbase%2Fidata&' \
  -d 'cbas_path=%2Fopt%2Fcouchbase%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fcouchbase%2Fadata&' \
  -d 'eventing_path=%2Fopt%2Fcouchbase%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fcouchbase%2Fedata&'

This initializes the disk-paths for data, indexes, analytics, and eventing on node 10.142.181.103 to the values shown.

For more information on /nodes/self/controller/settings, see Creating a New Cluster.

Note that to assign a name to the node, the POST /node/controller/rename http method and URI can be used, as follows:

curl -v -X POST -u Administrator:password \
http://10.143.192.103:8091/node/controller/rename \
-d hostname=node1-devcluster.com

The assigns the name node1-devcluster.com to the node.

Next Steps

Following initialization, a node can be provisioned so as to become a Couchbase Cluster of one node. See Create a Cluster for details.