Hi Richard,

1. NiFi does not have a defined maximum cluster size. For the best performance, 
we usually recommend < 10 nodes per cluster, but no more. If you have high 
performance needs, we have generally seen the best results with multiple 
smaller clusters than one large one. In this way, you can have hundreds of 
nodes processing the data in parallel, but the cluster administration overhead 
does not tax a single cluster coordinator to death.
2. While it is technically possible to create and define a flow.xml.gz file by 
hand, this would be incredibly frustrating, as the components and connections 
need a high number of defined values and must be validated in many unique ways. 
The UI and API allow this to happen in a convenient manner. If you genuinely 
wish to define the flow without a UI, take a look at existing flow.xml.gz files 
to get an understanding of the flow definition format.
3. NiFi can run on small hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi. You may also be 
interested in MiNiFi [1], a sub-project of NiFi. MiNiFi is a “headless agent” 
tool which is designed to run on lightweight or shared systems and extend the 
reach and capabilities of NiFi to the “edge” of data collection. MiNiFi offers 
two versions — a Java version [2] which has a high degree of compatibility with 
NiFi (many of the native processors are available), and a C++ version [3] which 
is extremely compact but has limited processor definition at this time. MiNiFi 
may also be a better fit for your “non-UI workflow”, as the flow can be defined 
using the GUI of NiFi and then exported as YAML to the MiNiFi agent, or written 
directly as YAML if desired.

[1] https://nifi.apache.org/minifi/index.html 
<https://nifi.apache.org/minifi/index.html>
[2] https://github.com/apache/nifi-minifi 
<https://github.com/apache/nifi-minifi>
[3] https://github.com/apache/nifi-minifi-cpp 
<https://github.com/apache/nifi-minifi-cpp>

Andy LoPresto
alopre...@apache.org
alopresto.apa...@gmail.com
PGP Fingerprint: 70EC B3E5 98A6 5A3F D3C4  BACE 3C6E F65B 2F7D EF69

> On Apr 2, 2017, at 3:45 AM, Richard Hanson <rhan...@mailbox.org> wrote:
> 
> I am new to Nifi, and am evaluating it after playing some basic functions. 
> Now I have a few questions:
> 
> - What is the max cluster size nifi can achieve?
> 
> - Is it possible to create workflow without GUI? A bit like travis ci .yaml 
> (User creates related workflow file and let nifi execute it (via submit or 
> programmatically)
> 
> - Is it possible to run embedded nifi? Checking 
> http://apache-nifi-developer-list.39713.n7.nabble.com/Possibility-of-running-NiFi-embedded-in-a-test-td820.html
>  
> <http://apache-nifi-developer-list.39713.n7.nabble.com/Possibility-of-running-NiFi-embedded-in-a-test-td820.html>
>  showing nifi can not run as embedded, but I want to double check for sure 
> (not for unit testing).
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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