!CHAPTER Set up your ArangoDB Cluster

Setting up a cluster can be intimidating task. You have to deal with
firewalls, ports, different types of machines, and the like. ArangoDB
is prepared to deal with all kinds of different setups and
requirements.

However, in the following section we concentrate on a standard setup
and show you, how to build a ArangoDB cluster within minutes. If you
want to dive deeper into the nasty details, you should read about
[Sharding](../Sharding/README.md).

!SECTION Development Scenario

While not really relevant for a production environment, a common setup
for development is to create a cluster on a single machine. This is
the easiest of all setups and you should be ready to play with a
ArangoDB cluster in less than a minute. Even when developing it is
convenient to create a cluster on a single machine instead of having
to deal with a lot of servers.

!SUBSECTION Step 1: Enable the Cluster mode

In order to enable the cluster mode, edit the configuration file as root

```
vi /etc/arangodb/arangod.conf
```

and change the lines

```
[cluster]
disable-dispatcher-kickstarter = yes
disable-dispatcher-frontend = yes
```

to

```
[cluster]
disable-dispatcher-kickstarter = no
disable-dispatcher-frontend = no
```

Save and restart

```
/etc/init.d/arangodb restart
```

!SUBSECTION Step 2: Setup your Cluster

You can now configure your cluster. A cluster consists of a number of
database server and coordinators. A database server holds your
precious data, while a coordinator talks to the outside world, takes
requests from clients, distributes them to the database server, and
assembles the result.

For this example, we assume that are creating three database servers
and two coordinators.

Use your favorite web browser and go to

```
http://localhost:8529/
```

You will now see the cluster management frontend.

![Create Cluster Dialog](cluster-create-dialog.png)

Select *Single Machine* scenario. The next page allows you to enter
the number of coordinators and database servers.

![Single Server Dialog](cluster-single-server-dialog.png)

Press *Launch Cluster* to fire up the cluster. That's it. Your cluster
is up and running.

!SUBSECTION Step 3: Test your Cluster

Click on one of the coordinators (e. g. "Claus") to access your
cluster.  In order to create a sharded collection, use *Tools / JS
Shell* and execute

```
JSH> db._create("users", { numberOfShards: 3 });
JSH> db.users.save({ _key: "cmeier", firstName: "Claus", lastName: "Meier" });
```

Congratulations! You have created your first sharded collection and
stored a document in it.