SUSE® Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is an integrated suite of open source clustering technologies that enables you to implement highly available physical and virtual Linux clusters. For quick and efficient configuration and administration, the High Availability Extension includes both a graphical user interface (GUI) and a command line interface (CLI). Additionally, it comes with the HA Web Konsole, allowing you to administer your Linux cluster also via a Web interface.
This guide is intended for administrators who need to set up, configure, and maintain High Availability (HA) clusters. Both approaches (GUI and CLI) are covered in detail to help the administrators choose the appropriate tool that matches their needs for performing the key tasks.
The guide is divided into the following parts:
Before starting to install and configure your cluster, make yourself familiar with cluster fundamentals and architecture, get an overview of the key features and benefits. Learn which hardware and software requirements must be met and what preparations to take before executing the next steps. Perform the installation and basic setup of your HA cluster using YaST.
Add, configure and manage resources, using either the graphical user interface (Pacemaker GUI) or the crm command line interface. Use the HA Web Konsole if you want or need to monitor your cluster via a Web interface. Learn how to make use of load balancing and fencing. In case you consider writing your own resource agents or modifying existing ones, get some background information on how to create different types of resource agents.
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension ships with a cluster-aware file system and volume manager: Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS2) and the clustered Logical Volume Manager (cLVM). For replication of your data, use DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) to mirror the data of an High Availability service from the active node of a cluster to its standby node. Furthermore, a clustered Samba server provides an High Availability solution also for heterogeneous environments.
Managing your own cluster requires you to perform a certain amount of troubleshooting. Learn about the most common problems and how to fix them. Find a comprehensive reference of the command line tools the High Availability Extension offers for administering your own cluster.
Lists the new features and behavior changes of the High Availability Extension since the last release. Learn how to migrate your cluster to the most recent release version and find an example of setting up a simple testing resource.
Many chapters in this manual contain links to additional documentation resources. These include additional documentation that is available on the system as well as documentation available on the Internet.
For an overview of the documentation available for your product and the latest documentation updates, refer to http://www.novell.com/documentation.