Scale an MKE cluster

By adding or removing nodes from the MKE cluster, you can horizontally scale MKE to fit your needs as your applications grow in size and use.

Scale using the MKE web UI

For detail on how to use the MKE web UI to scale your cluster, refer to Join Linux nodes or Join Windows worker nodes, depending on which operating system you use. In particular, these topics offer information on adding nodes to a cluster and configuring node availability.

Scale using the CLI

You can also use the command line to perform all scaling operations.

Scale operation

Command

Obtain the join token

Run the following command on a manager node to obtain the join token that is required for cluster scaling. Use either worker or manager for the <node-type>:

docker swarm join-token <node-type>

Configure a custom listen address

Specify the address and port where the new node listens for inbound cluster management traffic:

docker swarm join \
   --token  SWMTKN-1-2o5ra9t7022neymg4u15f3jjfh0qh3yof817nunoioxa9i7lsp-dkmt01ebwp2m0wce1u31h6lmj \
   --listen-addr 234.234.234.234 \
   192.168.99.100:2377

Verify node addition

Once your node is added, run the following command on a manager node to verify its presence:

docker node ls

Set node availability state

Use the --availability option to set node availability, indicating active, pause, or drain:

docker node update --availability <availability-state> <node-hostname>

Remove the node

docker node rm <node-hostname>