ClusterODM

A reverse proxy, load balancer and task tracker with optional cloud autoscaling capabilities for NodeODM API compatible nodes. In a nutshell, it's a program to link together multiple NodeODM API compatible nodes under a single network address. The program allows to distribute tasks across multiple nodes while taking in consideration factors such as maximum number of images, queue size and slots availability. It can also automatically spin up/down nodes based on demand using cloud computing providers (currently DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Scaleway or Amazon Web Services).

The program has been battle tested on the WebODM Lightning Network for quite some time and has proven reliable in processing thousands of datasets. However, if you find bugs, please report them.

Installation

The only requirement is a working installation of NodeJS 14 or earlier (ClusterODM has compatibility issues with NodeJS 16 and later).

git clone https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/ClusterODM
cd ClusterODM
npm install

There's also a docker image available at opendronemap/clusterodm and a native Windows bundle.

Usage

First, start the program:

node index.js [parameters]

Or with docker:

docker run --rm -ti -p 3000:3000 -p 8080:8080 opendronemap/clusterodm [parameters]

Then connect to the CLI and connect new NodeODM instances:

telnet localhost 8080
> HELP
> NODE ADD nodeodm-host 3001
> NODE LIST

Finally, use a web browser to connect to http://localhost:3000. A normal NodeODM UI should appear. This means the application is working, as web requests are being properly forwarded to nodes.

You can also check the status of nodes via a web interface available at http://localhost:10000.

See node index.js --help for all parameter options.

Autoscale Setup

ClusterODM can spin up/down nodes based on demand. This allows users to reduce costs associated with always-on instances as well as being able to scale processing based on demand.

To setup autoscaling you must:

• Make sure docker-machine is installed.
• Setup a S3-compatible bucket for storing results.
• Create a configuration file for DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Scaleway, or Amazon Web Services (click links to see examples)

You can then launch ClusterODM with:

node index.js --asr configuration.json

You should see the following messages in the console:

info: ASR: DigitalOceanAsrProvider
info: Can write to S3
info: Found docker-machine executable

You should always have at least one static NodeODM node attached to ClusterODM, even if you plan to use the autoscaler for all processing. If you setup auto scaling, you can't have zero nodes and rely 100% on the autoscaler. You need to attach a NodeODM node to act as the "reference node" otherwise ClusterODM will not know how to handle certain requests (for the forwarding the UI, for validating options prior to spinning up an instance, etc.). For this purpose, you should add a "dummy" NodeODM node and lock it:

telnet localhost 8080
> NODE ADD localhost 3001
> NODE LOCK 1
> NODE LIST
1) localhost:3001 [online] [0/2] <version 1.5.1> [L]

This way all tasks will be automatically forwarded to the autoscaler.

A docker-compose file is available to automatically setup both ClusterODM and NodeODM on the same machine by issuing:

docker-compose up

Windows Bundle

ClusterODM can run as a self-contained executable on Windows without the need for additional dependencies. You can download the latest clusterodm-windows-x64.zip bundle from the releases page. Extract the contents in a folder and run:

clusterodm.exe

Roadmap

We have plenty of goals. If you want to help, or need help getting started contributing, get in touch on the OpenDroneMap community forum.