---
title: Node Configuration with the Administrator Role
slug: Wvy79YgwBxMF-EN0xcCvm
description: Understand the key design considerations for deploying Ocient, ensuring scalability and efficiency.
docTags: 
createdAt: Thu Jul 21 2022 17:05:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
updatedAt: Mon Mar 30 2026 18:52:41 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
---

Nodes with the `admin` role have the additional responsibility to store important metadata for compression and system configuration. In most cases, an Ocient Data Intelligence Platform™ system should have the majority of SQL Nodes assigned to the `admin` role.

## Administrator Node Redundancy

To ensure high availability and consistency, an Ocient® System must always have a minimum number of operational nodes with `admin` privileges.&#x20;

Redundancy for the system configuration and dictionary compression operates using a majority present model. In a system with `N` nodes configured with the `admin` role, at least `N / 2 + 1` must be present and active for the system to function correctly, where `N` is the total number of nodes, and `N / 2` denotes the division floor (i.e., rounded down to the nearest integer).

This table shows the number of nodes with `admin` privileges that can fail before the system experiences problems. Both columns comprise only nodes assigned the `admin` role, not the entire system node count.&#x20;

| **Number of Nodes** | **Node Failures Tolerated** |
| ------------------- | --------------------------- |
| 1                   | 0                           |
| 2                   | 0                           |
| 3                   | 1                           |
| 4                   | 1                           |
| 5                   | 2                           |
| 6                   | 2                           |
| 7                   | 3                           |

:::hint{type="warning"}
Various core system functions risk failure if the number of nodes running the `admin` role falls below the tolerance threshold. Operations that could fail include:&#x20;

- System startup
- System configuration&#x20;
- Query execution
- Data loading
:::

:::hint{type="info"}
The majority present model for nodes with the `admin` role is different than parity encoding used for Foundation Nodes.

For details on parity width for Foundation Nodes, see [Configure Storage Spaces](<././Configure Storage Spaces.md>).&#x20;
:::

## Administrator Node Metadata&#x20;

This table describes additional metadata files stored by nodes running the `admin` role. If you remove the `admin` role from a node, the system removes these files.  &#x20;

| **File path**                            | **Description**                                                       |
| ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/var/opt/ocient/metadataStorage.raft`   | Definitions for users, network configuration, and database objects.   |
| `/var/opt/ocient/globalDataStorage.raft` | Compression dictionaries for the `COMPRESSION GDC` columns.           |

## Configure Nodes with the Administrator Role

To configure a node to run the `admin` role, execute this SQL statement.&#x20;

```sql
ALTER NODE nodename ADD ROLE admin;
```

It is generally a good practice to have all SQL Nodes in your system assigned to run the `admin` role. You can configure additional nodes with the `admin` role to adjust the level of redundancy to your chosen level.

## Related Links

[ALTER NODE](<./././SQL Reference/Data Definition Language _DDL_ Statement Reference/Cluster and Node Management.md>)

[Configure Storage Spaces](<././Configure Storage Spaces.md>)&#x20;

[Expand and Rebalance System](<././Maintenance Overview/Expand and Rebalance System.md>)&#x20;
