Overview

The first step in setting up a multi-user cluster is picking how many computers or VMs you'll use to run the various services.

From a service perspective, you'll need to run:

PostgeSQL database server
Apache Solr text indexing server
ActiveMQ messaging server
Network storage

You can run each of these on their own dedicated VM, but that is not necessary.

Apache Solr uses a lot of memory, so we recommend keeping it by itself. The exception is if you are using Windows File Sharing for shared storage. You can get better Solr performance if it is writing to local storage instead of over the network. So, you can consider using the same computer for both Solr and shared storage.

Also note that because all computers need to access the shared storage at the same path, you cannot mix operating systems. A Linux system running Solr will not be able to access the shared storage at the same path as a Windows Autopsy client.

We recommend:

Server 1: PostgreSQL and ActiveMQ
- Both of these are low overhead services.
Server 2: Apache Solr and Shared Storage (if you are using Windows File Sharing).

Suggested Hardware

TODO

PostgreSQL/ActiveMQ (server 1):
- RAM:
- Local Storage: Enough for databases
Solr (server 2):
- RAM:
- Local Storage: Minimal

Backups

You will have lots of important data on the system. Ensure that the following are regularly backed up:

Shared storage (which contains case data and text indexes)
Databases on the PostgreSQL server (see Backing Up)
Zookeeper data on the Solr server (see Backing Up)