[jira] [Commented] (CASSANDRA-5836) Seed nodes should be able to bootstrap without manual intervention

["Robert Coli (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-5836?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=13727032#comment-13727032 ] 

Robert Coli commented on CASSANDRA-5836:
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Replacing a seed node is a very common operation, and this best practice is confusing/poorly documented. There are regular contacts to #cassandra/cassandra-user@ where people ask how to replace a seed node, and are confused by the answer. The workaround also means that, if you do not restart your node after bootstrapping it (and changing the conf file back to indicate to itself that it is a seed) the node runs until next restart without any understanding that it is a seed node.

Being a seed node appears to mean two things :

1) I have myself as an entry in my own seed list, so I know that I am a seed.
2) Other nodes have me in their seed list, so they consider me a seed.

The current code checks for 1) and refuses to bootstrap. The workaround is to remove the 1) state temporarily. But if it is unsafe to bootstrap a seed node because of *either* 1) or 2), the workaround is unsafe.

Can you explicate the special cases here? I sincerely would like to understand why the code tries to prevent "a seed" from bootstrapping when one can clearly, and apparently safely, bootstrap "a seed". :)
                
> Seed nodes should be able to bootstrap without manual intervention
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: CASSANDRA-5836
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-5836
>             Project: Cassandra
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: Core
>            Reporter: Bill Hathaway
>            Priority: Minor
>
> The current logic doesn't allow a seed node to be bootstrapped.  If a user wants to bootstrap a node configured as a seed (for example to replace a seed node via replace_token), they first need to remove the node's own IP from the seed list, and then start the bootstrap process.  This seems like an unnecessary step since a node never uses itself as a seed.
> I think it would be a better experience if the logic was changed to allow a seed node to bootstrap without manual intervention when there are other seed nodes up in a ring.

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