Installation guide

Chapter 1. Red Hat Cluster Configuration and Management
Overview
Red Hat Cluster allows you to connect a group of computers (called nodes or members) to work
together as a cluster. It provides a wide variety of ways to configure hardware and software to suit
your clustering needs (for example, a cluster for sharing files on a GFS file system or a cluster with
high-availability service failover). This book provides information about how to use configuration
tools to configure your cluster and provides considerations to take into account before deploying a
Red Hat Cluster. To ensure that your deployment of Red Hat Cluster fully meets your needs and can
be supported, consult with an authorized Red Hat representative before you deploy it.
1.1. Configurat ion Basics
To set up a cluster, you must connect the nodes to certain cluster hardware and configure the nodes
into the cluster environment. This chapter provides an overview of cluster configuration and
management, and tools available for configuring and managing a Red Hat Cluster.
Note
For information on best practices for deploying and upgrading Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Advanced Platform (Clustering and GFS/GFS2), refer to the article "Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Cluster, High Availability, and GFS Deployment Best Practices" on Red Hat Customer Portal at
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/40051.
Configuring and managing a Red Hat Cluster consists of the following basic steps:
1. Setting up hardware. Refer to Section 1.1.1, “ Setting Up Hardware” .
2. Installing Red Hat Cluster software. Refer to Section 1.1.2, “ Installing Red Hat Cluster
software”.
3. Configuring Red Hat Cluster Software. Refer to Section 1.1.3, “ Configuring Red Hat Cluster
Software” .
1.1.1. Set t ing Up Hardware
Setting up hardware consists of connecting cluster nodes to other hardware required to run a Red
Hat Cluster. The amount and type of hardware varies according to the purpose and availability
requirements of the cluster. Typically, an enterprise-level cluster requires the following type of
hardware (refer to Figure 1.1, “ Red Hat Cluster Hardware Overview”).For considerations about
hardware and other cluster configuration concerns, refer to " Before Configuring a Red Hat Cluster"
or check with an authorized Red Hat representative.
Cluster nodes — Computers that are capable of running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 software, with
at least 1GB of RAM. The maximum number of nodes supported in a Red Hat Cluster is 16.
Ethernet switch or hub for public network — This is required for client access to the cluster.
Ethernet switch or hub for private network — This is required for communication among the cluster
nodes and other cluster hardware such as network power switches and Fibre Channel switches.
Network power switch — A network power switch is recommended to perform fencing in an
enterprise-level cluster.
Red Hat Ent erprise Linux 5 Clust er Administ rat ion
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