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Version: 1.6.0

How to set up replication on a small cluster

This article is a part of a series intended to showcase Memgraph's features and bring the user up to speed on developing with Memgraph.

We highly recommend checking out the other articles from this series which are listed in our database functionalities section.

Introduction​

This example demonstrates how to create a simple cluster of nodes running Memgraph instances, and set up replication. We'll demonstrate the use and behavior of the available synchronization modes.

Cluster topology​

The cluster consists of four nodes, a single main and three replicas:

  • the main node, containing the original data to be replicated to other nodes,
  • a node that will be replicated to using the sync mode,
  • a node that will be replicated to using the async mode,
  • a node that will be replicated to using the semi-sync mode.

Configuring the cluster​

We'll use Docker to set up and run the cluster on your local machine, so make sure you have it installed and ready, and grab your Memgraph docker image. Look here for instructions. We assume you have already set up a client for running queries like mgconsole installed. You can also use any of the supported drivers like mgclient or any of the Neo4j drivers.

We fire up the terminal, and for each Memgraph instance (node) we have to start, we'll run:

docker run --rm memgraph

The above commands will start a Memgraph node, and assign it its own IP address.

Now, to set up the cluster, we'll have to start an mgconsole instance for every running Memgraph node, and connect to it. To do this, we have to figure out their IP addresses. Running

docker ps

will list all the running docker processes, along with their "CONTAINER ID" and "NAME". Running

docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' container_name_or_id

where "container_name_or_id" is either the "CONTAINER ID" or "NAME" listed by docker ps, we can get the IP addresses of all the nodes. Once we have them, we can start setting up the replication. Let's say the ip addresses are as follows:

  • main: 172.17.0.2
  • sync replica: 172.17.0.3
  • async replica: 172.17.0.4
  • semi-sync replica: 172.17.0.5 .

Let's assume we're using mgconsole to connect to and query the nodes. Firstly, we have to set up the replicas. We connect to a replica by running

mgconsole --host REPLICA_IP_ADDRESS --use-ssl=false

where REPLICA_IP_ADDRESS is the address we found in the previous step. Once we're connected to a replica, we set its replication role to "REPLICA" by issuing

SET REPLICATION ROLE TO REPLICA WITH PORT 10000;

Note that the port 10000 is arbitrary, and any available port number may be used instead. We repeat the process for all replicas.

Now, it's time to set up the main. Again, we connect to the main using mgconsole:

mgconsole --host 172.17.0.2 --use-ssl=false

Then, for every replica, we issue the query that registers it:

REGISTER REPLICA r1 SYNC TO "172.17.0.3:10000";
REGISTER REPLICA r2 ASYNC TO "172.17.0.4:10000";
REGISTER REPLICA r3 SYNC WITH TIMEOUT 1 TO "172.17.0.5:10000";

Now we can create some nodes and edges on the main, and observe them replicate to the replicas. Firstly, we switch to the mgconsole instance connected to the main, and then issue:

CREATE (n:N {p: "This is going to be replicated!"});

After that, we can switch to any replica and try to match this node:

MATCH (n:N) RETURN n;

Lo and behold, we get:

+---------------------------------------------+
| n                                           |
+---------------------------------------------+
| (:N {p: "This is going to be replicated!"}) |
+---------------------------------------------+

Now, go on and have fun with more complex graphs! Happy hacking!

Where to next?​

To learn more about replication in Memgraph, visit the Reference guide. For real-world examples of how to use Memgraph, we strongly suggest going through one of the available Tutorials.