Modify an instance

After you create a Bigtable instance, you can update the following settings without any downtime:

  • Autoscaling

    You can enable or disable autoscaling for an instance's clusters or configure the settings for clusters that already have autoscaling enabled.

  • The number of nodes in manually scaled clusters

    After you add or remove nodes, it typically takes a few minutes under load for Bigtable to optimize the cluster's performance.

  • The number of clusters in the instance

    After you add a cluster, it takes time for Bigtable to replicate your data to the new cluster. New clusters are replicated from the geographically nearest cluster in the instance. In general, the greater the distance, the longer replication will take.

  • The application profiles for the instance, which contain replication settings

  • The location of your data

  • The labels for the instance, which provide metadata about the instance

  • The display name for the instance

You can change a cluster ID only by deleting and recreating the cluster.

To change any of the following, you must create a new instance with your preferred settings, export your data from the old instance, import your data into the new instance, and then delete the old instance.

  • Instance ID

  • Storage type (SSD or HDD)

  • Customer-managed encryption key (CMEK) configuration

Before you begin

If you want to use the command-line interfaces for Bigtable, install the Google Cloud CLI and the cbt CLI if you haven't already.

Configure autoscaling

You can enable or disable autoscaling for any existing cluster. You can also change the CPU utilization target, minimum number of nodes, and maximum number of nodes for a cluster. For guidance on choosing your autoscaling settings, see Autoscaling. You are not able to use the cbt CLI to configure autoscaling.

Enable autoscaling

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click Edit for the cluster that you want to update.

  4. Select Autoscaling.

  5. Enter values for the following:

    • Minimum number of nodes
    • Maximum number of nodes
    • CPU utilization target
    • Storage utilization target

  6. Click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters update command to enable autoscaling:

    gcloud bigtable clusters update CLUSTER_ID \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID \
    --autoscaling-max-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES \
    --autoscaling-min-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES \
    --autoscaling-cpu-target=AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET \
    --autoscaling-storage-target=AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.
    • AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES: The minimum number of nodes
    • AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES: The maximum number of nodes
    • AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET: The CPU utilization target percentage that Bigtable maintains by adding or removing nodes. This value must be from 10 to 80.

    • AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET: The storage utilization target in GiB per node that Bigtable maintains by adding or removing nodes

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

Disable autoscaling

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click for the cluster that you want to update.

  4. Select Manual node allocation.

  5. Enter the number of nodes for the cluster in the Quantity field.

    In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

  6. Click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters update command to disable autoscaling and configure a constant number of nodes:

    gcloud bigtable clusters update CLUSTER_ID \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID \
    --num-nodes=NUM_NODES --disable-autoscaling

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.

    • NUM_NODES: This field is optional. If no value is set, Bigtable automatically allocates nodes based on your data footprint and optimizes for 50% storage utilization. If you want to control the number of nodes in a cluster, update the NUM_NODES value. Ensure that number of nodes is set to a non-zero value.

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

Change autoscaling settings

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click for the cluster that you want to update.

  4. Enter new values for any of the floowing that you want to change:

    • Minimum number of nodes
    • Maximum number of nodes
    • CPU utilization target
    • Storage utilization target

  5. Click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters update command to update the settings for autoscaling:

    gcloud bigtable clusters update CLUSTER_ID \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID \
    --autoscaling-max-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES \
    --autoscaling-min-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES \
    --autoscaling-cpu-target=AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET \
    --autoscaling-storage-target=AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.

    The command accepts optional autoscaling flags. You can use all of the flags or just the flags for the values that you want to change.

    • AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES: The minimum number of nodes.
    • AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES: The maximum number of nodes.
    • AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET: The CPU utilization target percentage that Bigtable maintains by adding or removing nodes. This value must be from 10 to 80.

    • AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET: The storage utilization target in GiB per node that Bigtable maintains by adding or removing nodes.

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

Add or remove nodes manually

In most cases, we recommend that you enable autoscaling. If you choose not to, and your cluster's node scaling mode is manual, you can add or remove nodes, and the number of nodes remains constant until you change it again. To review the default node quotas per zone per Google Cloud project, see Node quotas. If you need to provision more nodes than the default, you can request more.

To change the number of nodes in a cluster that uses manual scaling:

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click Edit for the cluster that you want to update.

  4. In the Manual node allocation section, enter the number of nodes for the cluster in the Quantity field.

    In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

  5. Click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters update command to change the number of nodes:

    gcloud bigtable clusters update CLUSTER_ID \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID \
    --num-nodes=NUM_NODES

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.

    • NUM_NODES: This field is optional. If no value is set, Bigtable automatically allocates nodes based on your data footprint and optimizes for 50% storage utilization. If you want to control the number of nodes in a cluster, update the NUM_NODES value. Ensure that number of nodes is set to a non-zero value.

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

cbt

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the listinstances command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    cbt listinstances

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the listclusters command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID listclusters

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the updatecluster command to change the number of nodes:

    cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID updatecluster CLUSTER_ID NUM_NODES

    Provide the following:

    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.
    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.

    • NUM_NODES: This field is optional. If no value is set, Bigtable automatically allocates nodes based on your data footprint and optimizes for 50% storage utilization. If you want to control the number of nodes in a cluster, update the NUM_NODES value. Ensure that number of nodes is set to a non-zero value.

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

Add a cluster

You can add clusters to an existing instance. An instance can have clusters in up to 8 regions where Bigtable is available. Each zone in a region can contain only one cluster. The ideal locations for additional clusters depend on your use case.

If your instance is protected by CMEK, each new cluster must use a CMEK key that is in the same region as the cluster. Before you add a new cluster to a CMEK-protected instance, identify or create a CMEK key in the region where you plan to locate the cluster.

Before you add clusters to a single-cluster instance, read about the restrictions that apply when you change garbage collection policies on replicated tables. Then see examples of replication settings for recommendations.

To add a cluster to an instance:

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click Add cluster.

    If this button is disabled, the instance already has the maximum number of clusters.

  4. Enter a cluster ID for the first cluster.

    The cluster ID is a permanent identifier for the cluster.

  5. Choose the region and zone where the first cluster will run.

  6. Optional: To configure the cluster to always scale in increments of two nodes, select Enable 2x node scaling. For more information, see Node scaling factor.

  7. Choose a node scaling mode for the cluster. In most cases, you should choose autoscaling. For scaling guidance, see Autoscaling.

    1. For Manual node allocation, enter the number of Bigtable nodes for the first cluster. If you aren't sure how many nodes you need, use the default. You can add more nodes later.
    2. For Autoscaling, enter values for the following:
      • Minimum number of nodes
      • Maximum number of nodes
      • CPU utilization target
      • Storage utilization target

  8. Optional: To protect your instance with CMEK instead of the default Google-managed encryption, complete the following:

    1. Click Show encryption options.
    2. Select the radio button next to Customer-managed encryption key (CMEK).
    3. Select or enter the resource name for the CMEK key that you want to use for the cluster. You cannot add this later.
    4. If you are prompted to grant permission to the CMEK key's service account, click Grant. Your user account must be granted the Cloud KMS Admin role to complete this task.
    5. Click Save.

  9. Enter the number of nodes for the cluster.

    In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

  10. If the instance is CMEK-protected, select or enter a customer-managed key. The CMEK key must be in the same region as the cluster.

  11. Click Add.

  12. Repeat these steps for each additional cluster, then click Save. Bigtable creates the cluster and starts replicating your data to the new cluster. You may see CPU utilization increase as replication begins.

  13. Review the replication settings in the default app profile to see if they make sense for your replication use case. You might need to update the default app profile or create custom app profiles.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters create command to add a cluster:

    gcloud bigtable clusters create CLUSTER_ID \
    --async \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID \
    --zone=ZONE \
    [--num-nodes=NUM_NODES] \
    [--autoscaling-min-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES, \
    --autoscaling-max-nodes=AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES, \
    --autoscaling-cpu-target=AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET \
    --autoscaling-storage-target=AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET] \
    [--kms-key=KMS_KEY --kms-keyring=KMS_KEYRING \
    --kms-location=KMS_LOCATION --kms-project=KMS_PROJECT] \

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.

    • ZONE: The zone where the cluster runs.

      Each zone in a region can contain only one cluster. For example, if an instance has a cluster in us-east1-b, you can add a cluster in a different zone in the same region, such as us-east1-c, or a zone in a separate region, such as europe-west2-a. View the zone list.

    The --async flag is not required but is strongly recommended. Without this flag, the command might time out before the operation is complete. Bigtable will continue to create the cluster in the background.

    The command accepts the following optional flags:

    • --kms-key=KMS_KEY: The CMEK key in use by the cluster. You can add CMEK clusters only to instances that are already CMEK-protected.
    • --kms-keyring=KMS_KEYRING: The KMS keyring ID for the key.
    • --kms-location=KMS_LOCATION: The Google Cloud location for the key.
    • --kms-project=KMS_PROJECT: The Google Cloud project ID for the key.
    • --storage-type=STORAGE_TYPE: The type of storage to use for the cluster. Each cluster in an instance must use the same storage type. Accepts the values SSD and HDD. The default value is SSD.
    • --node-scaling-factor=node-scaling-factor-2x: A flag that enables 2x node scaling. You can enable this feature with both manual scaling and autoscaling.

    To view a list of Bigtable zones that aren't available for 2x node scaling, see Node scaling factor limitations.

    If no value is set for the --num-nodes option, Bigtable allocates nodes to the cluster automatically based on your data footprint and optimizes for 50% storage utilization. This automatic allocation of nodes has a pricing impact. If you want to control the number of nodes in a cluster, update the NUM_NODES value. Ensure that number of nodes is set to a non-zero value. In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

    For autoscaling, provide all autoscaling- flags and do not use num-nodes. See Autoscaling for guidance on choosing the values for your autoscaling settings. Replace the following:

    • AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES: The minimum number of nodes for the cluster.
    • AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES: The maximum number of nodes for the cluster.
    • AUTOSCALING_CPU_TARGET: The target CPU utilization for the cluster. This value must be from 10 to 80.
    • AUTOSCALING_STORAGE_TARGET: The storage utilization target in GiB that Bigtable maintains by adding or removing nodes.

  4. Review the replication settings in the default app profile to see if they make sense for your replication use case. You might need to update the default app profile or create custom app profiles.

cbt

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the listinstances command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    cbt listinstances

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the listclusters command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID listclusters

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the createcluster command to add a cluster:

    
cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID \
createcluster CLUSTER_ID \
ZONE \
NUM_NODES \
STORAGE_TYPE

    Provide the following:

    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.
    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.

    • ZONE: The zone where the cluster runs.

      Each zone in a region can contain only one cluster. For example, if an instance has a cluster in us-east1-b, you can add a cluster in a different zone in the same region, such as us-east1-c, or a zone in a separate region, such as europe-west2-a. View the zone list.

    • NUM_NODES: This field is optional. If no value is set, Bigtable automatically allocates nodes based on your data footprint and optimizes for 50% storage utilization. If you want to control the number of nodes in a cluster, update the NUM_NODES value. Ensure that number of nodes is set to a non-zero value.

      In many cases, each cluster in an instance should have the same number of nodes, but there are exceptions. Learn about nodes and replication.

    • STORAGE_TYPE: The type of storage to use for the cluster. Each cluster in an instance must use the same storage type. Accepts the values SSD and HDD.

  4. Review the replication settings in the default app profile to see if they make sense for your replication use case. You might need to update the default app profile or create custom app profiles.

Delete a cluster

If an instance has multiple clusters, you can delete all but 1 of the clusters. Deleting all but 1 cluster automatically disables replication.

In some cases, Bigtable does not allow you to delete a cluster:

  • If one of your application profiles routes all traffic to a single cluster, Bigtable will not allow you to delete that cluster. You must edit or delete the application profile before you can remove the cluster.
  • If you add new clusters to an existing instance, you cannot delete clusters in that instance until the initial data copy to the new clusters is complete.

To delete a cluster from an instance:

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Under Configure clusters, click Delete cluster for the cluster that you want to delete.

  4. To cancel the delete operation, click Undo, which is available until you click Save. Otherwise, click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the bigtable clusters list command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    gcloud bigtable clusters list --instances=INSTANCE_ID

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the bigtable clusters delete command to delete the cluster:

    gcloud bigtable clusters delete CLUSTER_ID \
    --instance=INSTANCE_ID

    Provide the following:

    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.
    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.

cbt

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the listinstances command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    cbt listinstances

  2. If you don't know the instance's cluster IDs, use the listclusters command to view a list of clusters in the instance: 

    cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID listclusters

    Replace INSTANCE_ID with the permanent identifier for the instance.

  3. Use the deletecluster command to delete the cluster:

    cbt -instance=INSTANCE_ID deletecluster CLUSTER_ID

    Provide the following:

    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.
    • CLUSTER_ID: The permanent identifier for the cluster.

Move data to a new location

To move the data in a Bigtable instance to a new zone or region, add a new cluster in the location that you want to move to, and then delete the cluster in the location you want to move from. The deleted cluster remains available until data has been replicated to the new cluster, so you don't have to worry about any requests failing. Bigtable replicates all data to the new cluster automatically.

Manage app profiles

Application profiles, or app profiles, control how your applications connect to an instance that uses replication. Every instance with more than 1 cluster has its own default app profile. You can also create many different custom app profiles for each instance, using a different app profile for each kind of application that you run.

To learn how to set up an instance's app profiles, see Configuring App Profiles. For examples of settings you can use to implement common use cases, see Examples of replication configurations.

Manage labels

Labels are key-value pairs that you can use to group related instances and store metadata about an instance.

To learn how to manage labels, see Adding or updating an instance's labels and Removing a label from an instance.

Change an instance's display name

To change an instance's display name, which the Google Cloud console uses to identify the instance:

Console

  1. Open the list of Bigtable instances in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the instance list

  2. Click the instance you want to change, then click Edit instance.

  3. Edit the instance name, then click Save.

gcloud

  1. If you don't know the instance ID, use the bigtable instances list command to view a list of your project's instances: 

    gcloud bigtable instances list

  2. Use the bigtable instances update command to update the display name:

    gcloud bigtable instances update INSTANCE_ID \
    --display-name=DISPLAY_NAME

    Provide the following:

    • INSTANCE_ID: The permanent identifier for the instance.
    • DISPLAY_NAME: A human-readable name that identifies the instance in the Google Cloud console.

cbt

This feature is not available in the cbt CLI.

What's next