Amazon Web Services has recently launched a new online store for software and services in the cloud named AWS Marketplace. Amazon customers can now deploy pre-configured instances in a few clicks, without having to install and set up the various software components themselves. We have been a partner from the start, making Acunu Reflex available to anyone with an AWS account.

This article describes how to set up a 2-node cluster running Acunu Reflex, giving an overview of the web interface in the process. We will be running version 2.0.4, our latest release.

Before we start, we must create an Amazon key pair to allow you to connect to your instances; this in an important step that is required by the AWS Marketplace since you will need this key to connect to your instances through SSH. Make sure you create the key pair in the EC2 region where you want your instances to run.

You can reuse an existing key pair, or create a new one by clicking on “Key Pairs” in your EC2 console. Creating a new key pair in your web browser will trigger the download of a “.pem” file: in the following example, we have created a key pair named “acunu” and downloaded a file named “acunu.pem”.

Let’s now head to the AWS Marketplace page for Acunu Reflex where we will have an overview of the available setup options for this deployment. On the right side of the screen, a table describes the pricing details for each hardware configuration. Pick the EC2 region where you created your key pair and click “Continue”. Select your instance type, the key pair, and the security group “based on seller settings”, then click on the “Launch with 1-Click” button at the top of your screen. Note that the security group should only be used for tests as it allows external connections to the instance and make sure you set up a secure configuration for any production use.

Repeat this process to start a second instance; you can simply launch it with the same settings.

In order to connect to the Acunu web interface, we need to pick a password for the root user. We will do this by connecting to the two nodes using SSH.

Head to the EC2 console and wait for your instances to finish booting. Once they are ready, ssh into each of them using the key pair that you have generated and pick a new password for the root account:

Make sure you chose a secure password to avoid losing control of your instance.

Now that our two nodes are properly set up and configured, we have to cluster them together. With Acunu, you won’t have to edit files or run use the command line to set up your cluster; instead, point your web browser to the public IP address using HTTPS. You will be prompted to log into the Acunu user interface; select root as the user and enter the password you have set in the previous step:

Now that we’re connected to one of our nodes, let’s set up our cluster. Click the “+ Add” button above your host name, and enter the internal host name for your other node as well as the root user and corresponding password. Click “Add host” and watch as your new node joins the cluster by selecting the topology tab in the overhead toolbar to see an overview of your Acunu ring. When the new node joins the cluster, it will appear on the ring and take ownership of half of your data.

After a minute or two, the node selects a token and joins the cluster.

We hope this article demonstrated how easy it is to set up an Acunu Reflex cluster through its web interface. For more, head to our website for general information or to our support site for any technical question.