Adding or Removing Cluster Nodes

You can scale your Vertica cluster by adding or removing nodes to meet the needs of your database. The most common way to scale up your cluster is to add nodes to accommodate more data and provide better query performance.

If your cluster has more nodes than it needs, or if you need to divert hardware for other uses, you can scale down your cluster.

You can add or remove nodes without having to shut down or restart the database.

After adding a node or before removing a node, the database rebalances the data. Rebalancing moves data around the cluster to populate the new nodes. It also moves data off the remaining nodes. Data can also be exchanged between nodes that are not being added or removed to maintain robust intelligent K-safety. If too little disk space exists to rebalance in one iteration, the database rebalances iteratively.

For detailed information about managing your cluster, see Managing Nodes in the Administrator's Guide.