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Revert scalable monolithic to SSD (grafana#10958)
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After consultation with @stevendungan, reverting the terminology
"Scalable monolithic deployment" back to "Simple scalable deployment."

Decided to add a note about the confusion that SSD causes to clarify
that we don't mean solid state drives.

FYI @monodot

---------

Co-authored-by: Michel Hollands <[email protected]>
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JStickler and MichelHollands authored Oct 19, 2023
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22 changes: 13 additions & 9 deletions docs/sources/get-started/deployment-modes.md
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---
# Loki deployment modes

Loki is a distributed system consisting of many microservices. It also has a unique build model where all of those microservices exist within the same binary.
Loki is a distributed system consisting of many microservices. It also has a unique build model where all of those microservices exist within the same binary.

You can configure the behavior of the single binary with the `-target` command-line flag to specify which microservices will run on startup. You can further configure each of the components in the `loki.yaml` file.

Because Loki decouples the data it stores from the software which ingests and queries it, you can easily redeploy a cluster under a different mode as your needs change, with minimal or no configuration changes.

## Scalable monolithic
## Simple Scalable

The scalable monolithic deployment mode, previously referred to as a simple scalable deployment (SSD), is the preferred way to deploy Loki for most installations. The scalable monolithic deployment is the default configuration installed by the [Loki Helm Chart]({{< relref "../setup/install/helm" >}}). This deployment mode is the easiest way to deploy Loki at scale. It strikes a balance between deploying in [monolithic mode](#monolithic-mode) or deploying each component as a [separate microservice](#microservices-mode).
The simple scalable deployment mode, is the preferred way to deploy Loki for most installations. The simple scalable deployment is the default configuration installed by the [Loki Helm Chart]({{< relref "../setup/install/helm" >}}). This deployment mode is the easiest way to deploy Loki at scale. It strikes a balance between deploying in [monolithic mode](#monolithic-mode) or deploying each component as a [separate microservice](#microservices-mode).

Loki’s scalable monolithic deployment mode separates execution paths into read, write, and backend targets. These targets can be scaled independently, letting you customize your Loki deployment to meet your business needs for log ingestion and log query so that your infrastructure costs better match how you use Loki.
{{% admonition type="note" %}}
This deployment mode is sometimes referred to by the acronym SSD for simple scalable deployment, not to be confused with solid state drives. Loki uses an object store.
{{% /admonition %}}

The scalable monolithic deployment mode can scale up to a few TBs of logs per day, however if you go much beyond this, the microservices mode will be a better choice for most users.
Loki’s simple scalable deployment mode separates execution paths into read, write, and backend targets. These targets can be scaled independently, letting you customize your Loki deployment to meet your business needs for log ingestion and log query so that your infrastructure costs better match how you use Loki.

![Scalable monolithic mode diagram](../scalable-monolithic-mode.png "Scalable monolithic mode")
The simple scalable deployment mode can scale up to a few TBs of logs per day, however if you go much beyond this, the microservices mode will be a better choice for most users.

The three execution paths in scalable monolithic mode are each activated by appending the following arguments to Loki on startup:
![Simple scalable mode diagram](../scalable-monolithic-mode.png "Simple scalable mode")

The three execution paths in simple scalable mode are each activated by appending the following arguments to Loki on startup:

- `-target=write` - The write target is stateful and is controlled by a Kubernetes StatefulSet. It contains the following components:
-- Distributor
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-- Query scheduler
-- Ruler

The scalable monolithic deployment mode requires a reverse proxy to be deployed in front of Loki, to direct client API requests to either the read or write nodes. The Loki Helm chart includes a default reverse proxy configuration, using Nginx.
The simple scalable deployment mode requires a reverse proxy to be deployed in front of Loki, to direct client API requests to either the read or write nodes. The Loki Helm chart includes a default reverse proxy configuration, using Nginx.

## Monolithic mode

Expand All @@ -48,7 +52,7 @@ The simplest mode of operation is the monolithic deployment mode. You enable mon

Monolithic mode is useful for getting started quickly to experiment with Loki, as well as for small read/write volumes of up to approximately 20GB per day.

You can horizontally scale a monolithic mode deployment to more instances by using a shared object store, and by configuring the [`ring` section]({{< relref "../configure#common" >}}) of the `loki.yaml` file to share state between all instances, but the recommendation is to use scalable monolithic mode if you need to scale your deployment.
You can horizontally scale a monolithic mode deployment to more instances by using a shared object store, and by configuring the [`ring` section]({{< relref "../configure#common" >}}) of the `loki.yaml` file to share state between all instances, but the recommendation is to use simple scalable mode if you need to scale your deployment.

You can configure high availability by running two Loki instances using `memberlist_config` configuration and a shared object store and setting the `replication_factor` to `3`. You route traffic to all the Loki instances in a round robin fashion.

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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion docs/sources/operations/authentication.md
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Grafana Loki does not come with any included authentication layer. Operators are
expected to run an authenticating reverse proxy in front of your services.

The scalable monolithic [deployment mode]({{< relref "../get-started/deployment-modes" >}}) requires a reverse proxy to be deployed in front of Loki, to direct client API requests to either the read or write nodes. The Loki Helm chart includes a default reverse proxy configuration, using Nginx.
The simple scalable [deployment mode]({{< relref "../get-started/deployment-modes" >}}) requires a reverse proxy to be deployed in front of Loki, to direct client API requests to either the read or write nodes. The Loki Helm chart includes a default reverse proxy configuration, using Nginx.

A list of open-source reverse proxies you can use:

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6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions docs/sources/setup/install/helm/install-scalable/_index.md
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---
title: Install the scalable monolithic Helm chart
title: Install the simple scalable Helm chart
menuTitle: Install scalable Loki
description: Install Loki in scalable mode.
aliases:
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keywords:
---

# Install the scalable monolithic Helm chart
# Install the simple scalable Helm chart
<!-- vale Grafana.Quotes = NO -->
<!-- vale Grafana.Quotes = YES -->

This Helm Chart installation runs the Grafana Loki cluster within a Kubernetes cluster.

If object storge is configured, this chart configures Loki to run `read` and `write` targets in a [scalable mode]({{< relref "../../../../get-started/deployment-modes#scalable-monolithic-deployment-mode" >}}), highly available architecture (3 replicas of each) designed to work with AWS S3 object storage. It will also configure meta-monitoring of metrics and logs.
If object storge is configured, this chart configures Loki to run `read` and `write` targets in a [scalable mode]({{< relref "../../../../get-started/deployment-modes#simple-scalable" >}}), highly available architecture (3 replicas of each) designed to work with AWS S3 object storage. It will also configure meta-monitoring of metrics and logs.

It is not possible to run the scalable mode with the `filesystem` storage.

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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion docs/sources/setup/size/_index.md
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This tool helps to generate a Helm Charts `values.yaml` file based on specified
expected ingestion, retention rate and node type. It will always configure a
[scalable]({{< relref "../../get-started/deployment-modes#scalable-monolithic-deployment-mode" >}}) deployment. The storage needs to be configured after generation.
[scalable]({{< relref "../../get-started/deployment-modes#simple-scalable" >}}) deployment. The storage needs to be configured after generation.

<div id="app">
<label>Node Type<i class="fa fa-question" v-on:mouseover="help='node'" v-on:mouseleave="help=null"></i></label>
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