Final answer:
When creating a new cluster, the first thing that must be specified is the number of nodes that will participate in the cluster.
Step-by-step explanation:
When creating a new cluster in a computer system, the first thing that must be specified is the number of nodes that will participate in the cluster. A node refers to a single computer or server that is connected within the cluster. This is an important step as it determines the capacity and processing power of the cluster.
For example, if you are creating a cluster for data processing, you would need to specify the number of nodes required to handle the workload efficiently. If more processing power is needed, additional nodes can be added to the cluster.
Once the number of nodes is determined, you can proceed to configure other important aspects of the cluster, such as the network topology, security settings, and resource allocation.