# How to build a cluster **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [August 29, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549 "2018-08-29T15:03:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![talon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@talon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/talon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/1 "2018-08-29T15:03:30Z")
I went to build a cluster (8 nodes for elasticsearch 2 nodes for kibana) with SAML integration so i think the first step is install elasticsearch and kibana second step is configure elasticsearch to make them as a cluster and run the cluster third step is run elasticsearch-setup-passwords to sets the passwords for the built-in `elastic` , `kibana` , `logstash_system` , and `beats_system` users. forth step is reconfigure elasticsearch and kibana to enable tls and SAML, so in the whole process we need configure elastic twice, is there any way to make it easy? is there anyway we can just configure it once? ---
**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/2 "2018-08-30T02:08:58Z")
You don't need to separate steps 2 and 4, you can do all of that in a single configuration step. _Personally_, I recommend doing it in small steps and testing each step as you go, rather than creating 1 big config file and then have to try and debug problems that could have been caused by any one of your configuration settings. But if you know what configuration options you want, then you can do it all in a single setup step. ---
**Author:** ![talon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@talon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/talon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/3 "2018-08-30T02:15:43Z")
if i don't do step 2 first ,how can i import licence to the cluster. and i think if the cluster don't have a licence , we will can enable xpack, and tls for SAML? ---
**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/4 "2018-08-30T02:40:25Z")
You can start the cluster with a trial license. > [@Enable trial licence by cmd](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/enable-trial-licence-by-cmd/146594/2): > > [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.3/license-settings.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.3/license-settings.html)[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.3/start-trial.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.3/start-trial.html) ---
**Author:** ![talon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@talon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/talon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/5 "2018-08-30T04:25:42Z")
HI Timv you said we don't need separate step 2 and step 4, when shell we elasticsearch-setup-passwords to sets the passwords for the built-in `elastic` , `kibana` , `logstash_system` , and `beats_system` users. in my understanding we can only set the password for built-in user if the cluster is running. ---
**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/6 "2018-08-30T05:07:49Z")
The password setup was step 3 Steps 2 & 4 were both changes to your configuration file. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-build-a-cluster/146549/7 "2018-09-27T05:07:59Z")
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