diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 49950ab..b8d69e5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,8 @@
 .env
 .style
 *.lint
+scripts/downscaling/crate
+scripts/downscaling/dist/*
+scripts/downscaling/data/*
+scripts/downscaling/repo/*
+scripts/downscaling/logs.csv
diff --git a/docs/downscaling/README.rst b/docs/downscaling/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1958d44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/downscaling/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+===========
+Downscaling
+===========
+
+In this tutorial we:
+
+- Create a Vanilla cluster.
+- Add some data to it.
+- Downscale it to a single node cluster.
+
+
+Starting a Vanilla cluster
+--------------------------
+
+A Vanilla cluster is a three node cluster that runs on a single host. Each of the
+nodes share the file system and operating system scheduler of the host, to form a
+cluster. This rig provides parallel processing power on large scale data, when you
+only have one host, and this comes at the cost increased latency in writes.
+
+Proceed:
+
+1. *~/.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling* should contain:
+
+   - *update-dist*: script to install **CrateDB**.
+   - *dist*: **CrateDB** distributions.
+   - *crate*: a symlink to a particular distribution in the *dist* folder (not
+     the **CrateDB**, executable script), where you will also find a *crate-clone*
+     git repository.
+   - *conf*: **CrateDB** configurations, each node in the cluster has a folder
+     in there, with the *crate.yml* and *log4j2.properties*.
+   - *data*: **CrateDB** the nodes will persist their data under *data/ni/nodes/0*.
+   - *repo*: **CrateDB** repo, for snapshotting.
+   - *start-node*: script to start **CrateDB** with a given configuration.
+   - *detach-node*: script to detach a node from the cluster.
+   - *bootstrap-node*: script to bootstrap a node to form a new cluster. Which
+     means, recreating its cluster state so that it may be started on its own
+     forming a new cluster that has access to the data in the previous.
+   - *data.py*: script produce dummy data.
+
+2. Run *./update-dist*
+
+   - This will install the latest, unreleased, **CrateDB** under *dist/*, creating
+     a link *./crate -> dist/crate..*.
+   - Assumed **git**, **java 11** or later, **python3** and a **terminal** are
+     available to you, and you have an account in GitHub_.
+
+3. The configuration for the Vanilla cluster:
+
+    - *~/.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml*
+    - *~/.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/crate.yml*
+    - *~/.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/crate.yml*
+    - *~/.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling/conf/log4j2.properties*
+
+4. Run *./startnode* in three different terminals
+
+   - *./startnode n1*
+   - *./startnode n2*
+   - *./startnode n3*
+
+   Which will form the Vanilla cluster, electing a master. You can
+   interact with the Vanilla cluster by opening a browser and pointing
+   it to *http://localhost:4200*, *CrateDB*'s `Admin UI`_.
+
+
+Adding some data to the cluster
+-------------------------------
+
+Proceed:
+
+1. Produce a CSV_ file containing 3600 rows of log data (1 hour's worth of logs @1Hz):
+
+  ::
+
+    ./data.py > logs.csv
+
+2. In the `Admin UI`_:
+
+  ::
+
+    CREATE TABLE logs (log_time timestamp NOT NULL,
+                       client_ip ip NOT NULL,
+                       request string NOT NULL,
+                       status_code short NOT NULL,
+                       object_size long NOT NULL);
+
+     COPY logs FROM 'file:///.../crate-tutorials/scripts/downscaling/logs.csv';
+     REFRESH TABLE logs;
+     select * from logs order by log_time limit 10800;
+
+  The three nodes perform the copy, so we are expecting to see 3600 * 3 rows, with
+  what looks like "repeated" data. Because we did not define a primary key, **CrateDB**
+  created the default *_id* primary key, which is a unique hash (varchar), so in effect,
+  because each row has a unique id, they are all inserted.
+
+
+Exploring the Data
+------------------
+
+Using the `Admin UI`_, shards view on the left:
+
+.. image:: imgs/shards-view.png
+
+We can see the three nodes, each having a number of shards, specifically:
+
+    +-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+    | Shard | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
+    +=======+===+===+===+===+===+===+
+    |  n1   | . | . | . |   | . |   |
+    +-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+    |  n2   | . | . |   | . |   | . |
+    +-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+    |  n3   |   |   | . | . | . | . |
+    +-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+
+Thus in this cluster setup, one node can crash, yet the data in the cluster
+will still remain fully available because any two nodes have access to all
+the shards, when they work together to fulfill query requests. A SQL table
+is a composite of shards, six in our case. When a query is executed, the
+planner will define steps for accessing all the shards of the table.
+By adding nodes to the cluster, the data is spread over more nodes, so that
+the computing is parallelized.
+
+Having a look at the setup for table *logs*:
+
+::
+
+  SHOW CREATE TABLE logs;
+
+Will return:
+
+::
+
+  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "doc"."logs" (
+     "log_time" TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE NOT NULL,
+     "client_ip" IP NOT NULL,
+     "request" TEXT NOT NULL,
+     "status_code" SMALLINT NOT NULL,
+     "object_size" BIGINT NOT NULL
+  )
+  CLUSTERED INTO 6 SHARDS
+  WITH (
+     ...
+     number_of_replicas = '0-1',
+     ...
+  )
+
+We have a default min number of replicas of zero, and a max of one for each
+of our six shards. A replica is simply a copy or a shard.
+
+
+Downscaling (by means of replicas)
+----------------------------------
+
+Downscaling by means of replicas is achieved by making sure the surviving nodes
+of the cluster have access to all the shards, even when the other nodes are missing.
+
+1. We need to ensure that the number of replicas matches the number of nodes:
+
+::
+
+  ALTER TABLE logs SET (number_of_replicas = '1-all');
+
+In the `Admin UI`_, we can follow the progress of replication.
+
+2. After replication is completed, we can take down all the nodes in the cluster
+   (*ctrl^C* in the terminal).
+
+3. Run *./detach-node ni*, where i in [2,3], to detach **n2** and **n3** from the cluster.
+   We will let **n1** form a new cluster all by itself, with access to the original data.
+
+4. Change **n1**'s configuration *crate.yml*. The best practice is to select the node
+   that was master, as then we know it has the latest version of the cluster state. For
+   our tutorial, we are running in a single host so cluster state is more or less
+   guaranteed to be consistent across nodes, but, in principle, the cluster could be
+   running across multiple hosts, and then we would want the master node to become the
+   new single node cluster:
+
+   ::
+
+     cluster.name: simple   # don't need to change this
+     node.name: n1
+     stats.service.interval: 0
+     network.host: _local_
+     node.max_local_storage_nodes: 1
+
+     http.cors.enabled: true
+     http.cors.allow-origin: "*"
+
+     transport.tcp.port: 4301
+     #gateway.expected_nodes: 3
+     #gateway.recover_after_nodes: 2
+     #discovery.seed_hosts:
+     #  - 127.0.0.1:4301
+     #  - 127.0.0.1:4302
+     #cluster.initial_master_nodes:
+     #  - 127.0.0.1:4301
+     #  - 127.0.0.1:4302
+
+5. Run *./bootstrap-node n1* to let **n1** join a new cluster when it starts.
+
+6. Run *./start-node n1*.
+   Panic not, the cluster state is *[YELLOW]*, we sort that out with:
+
+   ::
+
+     ALTER TABLE logs SET (number_of_replicas = '0-1');
+
+Further reading: crate-node_.
+
+
+.. _GitHub: https://github.com/crate/crate.git
+.. _`Admin UI`: http://localhost:4200
+.. _crate-node: https://crate.io/docs/crate/reference/en/latest/cli-tools.html#cli-crate-node
+.. _CSV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
+.. _crate-node: https://crate.io/docs/crate/guide/en/latest/best-practices/crate-node.html
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/downscaling/imgs/shards-view.png b/docs/downscaling/imgs/shards-view.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4245a1
Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/downscaling/imgs/shards-view.png differ
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/bootstrap-node b/scripts/downscaling/bootstrap-node
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1f110d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/bootstrap-node
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+source common.sh
+
+./crate/bin/crate-node unsafe-bootstrap \
+    -Cpath.home=$path_home \
+    -Cpath.conf=$path_conf \
+    -Cpath.data=$path_data \
+    -Cpath.repo=$path_repo
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/common.sh b/scripts/downscaling/common.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..60b19c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/common.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+display_usage_and_exit() {
+    echo "usage: $0 node_name"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
+    display_usage_and_exit
+fi
+
+node_name=$1
+path_conf="$(pwd)/conf/$node_name"
+if [ ! -d $path_conf ]; then
+    echo "No configuration available in [conf/$node_name]."
+    exit 1
+fi
+path_home=$(pwd)/crate
+path_data=$(pwd)/data/$node_name
+path_repo=$(pwd)/repo
+
+if [ -z "$CRATE_HEAP_SIZE" ]; then
+    export CRATE_HEAP_SIZE="2G"
+fi
+echo 'setup: '
+echo " - path_home: $path_home"
+echo " - node_name: $node_name"
+echo " - path_data: $path_data"
+echo " - path_repo: $path_repo"
+echo " - CRATE_HEAP_SIZE: $CRATE_HEAP_SIZE"
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/log4j2.properties b/scripts/downscaling/conf/log4j2.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8daed4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/log4j2.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+status = error
+
+rootLogger.level = info
+rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref = console
+
+# log action execution errors for easier debugging
+logger.action.name = org.crate.action.sql
+logger.action.level = debug
+
+appender.console.type = Console
+appender.console.name = console
+appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
+appender.console.layout.pattern = [%d{ISO8601}][%-5p][%-25c{1.}] [%node_name] %marker%m%n
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b01240
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+cluster.name: vanilla 
+node.name: n1
+stats.service.interval: 0
+network.host: _local_
+node.max_local_storage_nodes: 1
+
+http.cors.enabled: true
+http.cors.allow-origin: "*"
+
+transport.tcp.port: 4301
+gateway.expected_nodes: 3
+gateway.recover_after_nodes: 2
+discovery.seed_hosts:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301
+- 127.0.0.1:4302
+cluster.initial_master_nodes:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301 
+- 127.0.0.1:4302 
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml.short b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml.short
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14ca126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/crate.yml.short
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+cluster.name: vanilla
+node.name: n1
+stats.service.interval: 0
+network.host: _local_
+node.max_local_storage_nodes: 1
+
+http.cors.enabled: true
+http.cors.allow-origin: "*"
+
+transport.tcp.port: 4301
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/log4j2.properties b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/log4j2.properties
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..2a55cac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n1/log4j2.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../log4j2.properties
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/crate.yml b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/crate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfa6f39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/crate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+cluster.name: vanilla
+node.name: n2
+stats.service.interval: 0
+network.host: _local_
+node.max_local_storage_nodes: 1
+
+http.cors.enabled: true
+http.cors.allow-origin: "*"
+
+transport.tcp.port: 4302
+gateway.expected_nodes: 3
+gateway.recover_after_nodes: 2
+discovery.seed_hosts:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301
+- 127.0.0.1:4302
+cluster.initial_master_nodes:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301 
+- 127.0.0.1:4302 
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/log4j2.properties b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/log4j2.properties
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..2a55cac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n2/log4j2.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../log4j2.properties
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/crate.yml b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/crate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24bf3d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/crate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+cluster.name: vanilla
+node.name: n3
+stats.service.interval: 0
+network.host: _local_
+node.max_local_storage_nodes: 1
+
+http.cors.enabled: true
+http.cors.allow-origin: "*"
+
+transport.tcp.port: 4303
+gateway.expected_nodes: 3
+gateway.recover_after_nodes: 2
+discovery.seed_hosts:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301
+- 127.0.0.1:4302
+cluster.initial_master_nodes:
+- 127.0.0.1:4301 
+- 127.0.0.1:4302 
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/log4j2.properties b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/log4j2.properties
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..2a55cac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/conf/n3/log4j2.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../log4j2.properties
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/data.py b/scripts/downscaling/data.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..65ed31a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import random
+import string
+import ipaddress
+import time
+
+
+# to achieve log lines as in:
+#     2012-01-01T00:00:00Z,25.152.171.147,/crate/Five_Easy_Pieces.html,200,280278
+# -> timestamp,
+# -> random ip address,
+# -> random request (a path),
+# -> random status code,
+# -> random object size,
+
+
+def timestamp_range(start, end, format):
+    st = int(time.mktime(time.strptime(start, format)))
+    et = int(time.mktime(time.strptime(end, format)))
+    dt = 1 # 1 sec
+    fmt = lambda x: time.strftime(format, time.localtime(x))
+    return (fmt(x) for x in range(st, et, dt))
+
+
+def rand_ip():
+    return str(ipaddress.IPv4Address(random.getrandbits(32)))
+
+
+def rand_request():
+    rand = lambda src: src[random.randint(0, len(src) - 1)]
+    path = lambda: "/".join((rand(("usr", "bin", "workspace", "temp", "home", "crate"))) for _ in range(4))
+    name = lambda: ''.join(random.sample(string.ascii_lowercase, 7))
+    ext = lambda: rand(("html", "pdf", "log", "gif", "jpeg", "js"))
+    return "{}/{}.{}".format(path(), name(), ext())
+
+
+def rand_object_size():
+    return str(random.randint(0, 1024))
+
+
+def rand_status_code():
+    return str(random.randint(100, 500))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    print("log_time,client_ip,request,status_code,object_size")
+    for ts in timestamp_range("2019-01-01T00:00:00Z", "2019-01-01T01:00:00Z", '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'):
+        print(",".join([ts, rand_ip(), rand_request(), rand_status_code(), rand_object_size()]))
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/detach-node b/scripts/downscaling/detach-node
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3e58941
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/detach-node
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+source common.sh
+
+./crate/bin/crate-node detach-cluster \
+    -Cpath.home=$path_home \
+    -Cpath.conf=$path_conf \
+    -Cpath.data=$path_data \
+    -Cpath.repo=$path_repo
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/start-node b/scripts/downscaling/start-node
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..65e4b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/start-node
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+source common.sh
+
+./crate/bin/crate \
+    -Cpath.home=$(pwd)/crate \
+    -Cpath.conf=$path_conf \
+    -Cpath.data=$path_data \
+    -Cpath.repo=$path_repo
diff --git a/scripts/downscaling/update-dist b/scripts/downscaling/update-dist
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..38f84d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/downscaling/update-dist
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+if [ ! -d dist ]; then
+    mkdir dist
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d dist/crate-clone ]; then
+    git clone https://github.com/crate/crate.git dist/crate-clone
+fi
+
+cd dist/crate-clone
+git pull
+./gradlew clean
+./gradlew disTar
+
+latest_tar_ball=$(find ./app/build/distributions -name 'crate-*.tar.gz')
+cp $latest_tar_ball ..
+cd ..
+name=$(basename $latest_tar_ball)
+tar -xzvf $name
+rm -f $name
+name=${name/.tar.gz/}
+cd ..
+rm -f crate
+ln -s dist/$name crate
+echo "Crate $name has been installed."