Section 2.1:Choosing a Hardware Configuration
15
RAID units. These products require extensive testing to ensure reliable operation, especially if the
shared RAID units are based on parallel SCSI buses. These products typically do not allow for online
repair of a failed system. No host RAID adapters are currently certified with Red Hat Cluster Manager.
Refer to the Red Hat web site at http://www.redhat.com for the most up-to-date supported hardware
matrix.
The use of software RAID, or software Logical Volume Management (LVM), is not supported on
shared storage. This is because these products do not coordinate access from multiple hosts to shared
storage. Software RAID or LVM may be used on non-shared storage on cluster members (for example,
boot and system partitions and other filesysytems which are not associated with any cluster services).
2.1.2 Minimum Hardware Requirements
A minimum hardware configuration includes only the hardware components that are required for
cluster operation, as follows:
•
Two servers to run cluster services
•
Ethernet connection for a heartbeat channel and client network access
•
Shared disk storage for the cluster quorum partitions and service data.
See Section 2.1.5, Example of a Minimum Cluster Configuration for an example of this type of hard-
ware configuration.
The minimum hardware configuration is the most cost-effective cluster configuration; however, it in-
cludes multiple points of failure. For example, if the RAID controller fails, then all cluster services
will be unavailable. When deploying the minimal hardware configuration, software watchdog timers
should be configured as a data integrity provision.
To improve availability, protect against component failure, and guarantee data integrity under all fail-
ure conditions, the minimum configuration can be expanded. Table 2–1, Improving Availability and
Guaranteeing Data Integrity shows how to improve availability and guarantee data integrity:
Table 2–1
Improving Availability and Guaranteeing Data Integrity
Problem
Solution
Disk failure
Hardware RAID to replicate data across multiple disks.
RAID controller failure
Dual RAID controllers to provide redundant access to
disk data.
Heartbeat channel failure
Point-to-point Ethernet or serial connection between
the cluster systems.
Summary of Contents for CLUSTER MANAGER - INSTALLATION AND
Page 1: ...Red Hat Cluster Manager The Red Hat Cluster Manager Installation and Administration Guide ...
Page 54: ...54 Chapter 2 Hardware Installation and Operating System Configuration ...
Page 102: ...102 Chapter 5 Database Services ...
Page 128: ...128 Chapter 7 Apache Services ...
Page 144: ...144 Chapter 8 Cluster Administration ...
Page 170: ...170 Appendix A Supplementary Hardware Information ...
Page 182: ...182 Appendix B Supplementary Software Information ...