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Dedicated node roles in Aiven for OpenSearch®

Aiven for OpenSearch® supports dedicated node roles, enabling workload isolation across specialized node groups for optimized performance and scaling.

The dedicated node roles capability is generally available (GA) for Aiven for OpenSearch® version 2.19 and later. The cluster topology with node roles is available for 9-node and 15-node service plans, for production workloads that require enhanced performance and reliability.

Benefits and use cases​

The dedicated node roles feature helps achieve the following:

  • Improved stability: Separating cluster management from data operations prevents resource-intensive queries from affecting cluster coordination, reducing the risk of cluster instability.
  • Better scalability: You can scale data nodes independently from cluster manager nodes, adding capacity where needed without over-provisioning management resources.
  • Optimized resource allocation: Each node group can use hardware configurations tailored to its specific workload, improving cost efficiency.
  • Enhanced performance: Dedicated data nodes can focus entirely on query execution and data processing without the overhead of cluster management tasks.

The dedicated node roles feature is particularly beneficial for:

  • Large-scale deployments: Clusters with high data volumes or query throughput benefit from isolating coordination overhead from data operations.
  • Performance-critical applications: Preventing resource contention between cluster management and query execution ensures consistent performance.
  • Complex cluster topologies: Larger clusters with many nodes see stability improvements when cluster management runs on dedicated hardware.

About dedicated node roles​

By default, OpenSearch nodes perform all roles: cluster management, data storage, and query processing. With dedicated node roles, you can separate these responsibilities across different node groups, each optimized for specific tasks.

This architecture separates the cluster control plane from the data plane. It keeps cluster management operations stable during heavy query loads or data ingestion.

Available node roles​

Cluster manager nodes​

Cluster manager nodes handle cluster-wide operations such as:

  • Managing cluster state and metadata
  • Coordinating node membership
  • Creating and deleting indices
  • Tracking cluster health
  • Allocating shards to nodes
  • Orchestrating cluster-wide operations

These nodes run on smaller instances optimized for low-latency coordination tasks rather than data storage. Cluster manager nodes do not store data or handle search requests, allowing them to focus on maintaining cluster stability.

note

Configure cluster manager nodes in odd numbers to ensure quorum for cluster decisions and prevent split-brain scenarios.

Data nodes​

Data nodes are responsible for:

  • Storing and indexing data
  • Executing search queries
  • Performing data aggregations
  • Running ingest pipelines
  • Handling client requests
  • Coordinating distributed requests across the cluster
  • Providing internal DNS routing for cluster traffic

In dedicated-role plans, each data node includes the data, ingest, coordinator, and internal DNS roles. Data nodes typically run on larger instances with more storage and compute resources for data-intensive operations.

Cluster configuration​

Dedicated node roles are defined at the service plan level. When you select a plan with dedicated roles:

  • Cluster manager nodes are configured as a separate node group with their own instance type.
  • Cluster manager nodes are automatically distributed across different availability zones.
  • Data nodes form another group optimized for storage and compute.
  • The configuration is managed automatically by Aiven.
  • Cluster manager nodes are excluded from DNS routing for client connections.
  • Node roles are assigned during cluster creation and maintained throughout the cluster lifecycle.
  • OpenSearch Dashboards is served on every node.
  • Dedicated dashboard nodes are not included.

All standard service operations work with dedicated node roles, including service creation, major version upgrades, plan changes, service forking, and node replacement. The platform handles cluster manager node operations carefully to maintain cluster stability during updates.

Node replacement and scaling​

During maintenance or scaling operations:

  • To increase data capacity, move to a dedicated-role plan with more or larger data nodes while keeping the cluster manager layout unchanged.
  • Cluster manager nodes are replaced last during maintenance updates, including version upgrades, to maintain cluster coordination.
  • Node failures are handled automatically with role-aware replacement.
  • Disk space validation and additional disk capacity apply only to data nodes, as cluster manager nodes do not store data. This makes adding disk space more cost-efficient compared to scaling disk across all nodes.

Manage dedicated node roles​

The dedicated node roles feature is plan-based.

Prerequisites​

Start using dedicated node roles​

Create an Aiven for OpenSearch® service and choose a plan that includes dedicated node roles, available under Cluster plans. For steps, see Get started with Aiven for OpenSearch®.

Scale a cluster plan​

To move to another dedicated-role layout, change the service plan to a different eligible plan, available under Cluster plans. For steps, see Change a service plan.

Disable dedicated node roles​

Change the service plan to a plan without dedicated node roles. This returns the service to a standard node layout where nodes share roles. For steps, see Change a service plan.

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