Groundplex requirements: Hardware and operating systems

Hardware requirements

A Groundplex is a local server running on hardware that you provision. The hardware must meet the following minimum requirements.


Nodes	Minimum value: 1 Recommended: 2 or more nodes	Groundplex nodes can be configured in the following sizes: Medium: 2 vCPU and 8GB RAM Large: 4 vCPU and 16GB RAM X-Large: 8 vCPU and 32GB RAM 2X-Large: 16 vCPU and 64GB RAM SnapLogic recommends two nodes for high availability. For requirements about clustering nodes, refer to the Node Cluster section in Groundplex Requirements. Important: All JCC nodes should be alike. Similarly, all FeedMaster nodes should be alike. However, JCC nodes can be (and typically are) larger than FeedMaster nodes.
RAM	Minimum value: 8GB	Depending on the size, number, and nature of pipelines, more memory (RAM) might be required to maintain an acceptable level of performance. The memory used depends on the volume and size of the documents being processed. Some Snaps, like the Sort Snap, hold many documents in memory during processing and, therefore, consume more memory. Note: Contact your SnapLogic Sales Engineer to perform an optimum-sizing analysis based on your requirements.
CPU	Minimum value: 2 cores 64-bit Architecture - Intel or AMD	All Snaps execute in parallel in their own threads; therefore, the more cores that are available to the Snaplex, the more performant the system.
Disk Space	Minimum value: 80GB Recommended: 100GB	Local disk space is required for logging and for any Snap that uses the local disk for temporary storage, such as the Sort and Join Snaps. Note: SnapLogic does not restrict the disk size of your Groundplex nodes.

Supported operating systems

Groundplexes are certified as supported on the following operating systems:

Linux: Debian-based and Red Hat-based distributions. Both *.deb and*.rpm packages are available for download via the Snaplex dialog.

CAUTION: In general, any Linux version that has not reached end-of-life and is still supported by the vendor should work but might not be certified by SnapLogic.
Windows: Any version that has not reached end-of-life and is still supported.

Temporary storage requirements for system writes

The SnapLogic platform writes files to two different areas on disk. You can move any directory to another partition but the directory must still have the same path.

Temporary files

The temporary files written by Snaps and pipelines are written to the directory named by the standard Java property java.io.tmpdir, which defaults to /tmp on Linux if not specified explicitly when starting the JVM.

Attention: We recommend that you move the default directory to a dedicated disk partition. Using the default directory location is problematic /tmp for Snaps to write their temp files for the following reasons:

The /tmp folder might run out of space
For systems where the /tmp folder is a RAM disk, any files written to the /tmp folder will compete for RAM with other software running on the system.

For details, refer to Temporary Folder.

Snaplex JCC service installation folder

The installation folder contains various subdirectories. The folder path is typically /opt/snaplogic on Linux. Review the following guidelines before installation.

Folder	Path	Estimated volume*	Description
Log files	`run/log`	Several GB	Used for system logs. This folder tends to use a lot of disk space.
Unzipped Snap Packs	`run/jcc/classes`	Several GB	Used for Snap Packs. This folder tends to use a lot of disk space.
Cached JDBC drivers	`run/jcc/snapjars`	A few dozen MB	Explicitly specified by database Snap configurations. These files don't use much space.
WAR files	`run/lib`	Hundreds of MB	Defines the JCC service. During a Snaplex upgrade, the new WAR file is downloaded to this location and then expanded upon restart with the new WAR file .

CPU Clock Alignment

CPU clock alignment is an important consideration for Groundplexes, especially those in production environments. The Date.now() expression language function might be different between Snaplex nodes, and internal log messages might have skewed timestamps, making it more difficult to debug issues. For example, with Ultra Tasks, large clock differences can also affect communication between the FeedMaster and the JCC nodes.

The Groundplex machine timestamp is verified to check if it is in sync with the timestamp on the SnapLogic cloud. Running a time service on the Groundplex node will ensure that the timestamp is always kept in sync.

Linux: Learn more about setting up a NTP server: Basic NTP Configuration
Windows: Learn more about the Windows Time Server: Windows Time Service Technical Reference

FAQs

Question: Does the operating system affect the TLS cipher suites used by SnapLogic, or are they determined solely by the JVM since SnapLogic does not use OpenSSL?
Answer: The JVM has its own cryptographic implementation in pure Java, Operating system has minimal direct impact on available cipher suites.
Question: When using the default Groundplex configuration, are the available TLS cipher suites the same as those used by the Cloudplex?
Answer: It is based on the JVM version used. On Groundplexes JVM version depends on what user installs.
Question: What is the relationship between the Java security providers list, the cipher suites shown in the jcc_output logs, and the cipher suites available on the local machine?
Answer: The Java security providers list installed in the JVM determine the available cryptographic algorithms. In case, no specific provider is mentioned, the application uses the default providers. The JVM's default providers support the 49 cipher suites listed.
JCC Output logs display the actual TLS configuration in effect at runtime. They show which cipher suites are enabled and which are disabled.
Cipher Suites on local machine display policy decision to exclude weaker algorithms, even though they are technically available.