Installation guide

Section 2.1:Choosing a Hardware Configuration 13
2 Hardware Installation and Operating
System Configuration
To set up the hardware configuration and install the Linux distribution, follow these steps:
• Choose a cluster hardware configuration that meets the needs of applications and users, see Section
2.1, Choosing a Hardware Configuration.
• Set up and connect the cluster systems and the optional console switch and network switch or hub,
see Section 2.2, Steps for Setting Up the Cluster Systems.
• Install and configure the Linux distribution on the cluster systems, see Section 2.3, Steps for In-
stalling and Configuring the Red Hat Linux Distribution.
• Set up the remaining cluster hardware components and connect them to the cluster systems, see
Section 2.4, Steps for Setting Up and Connecting the Cluster Hardware.
After setting up the hardware configuration and installing the Linux distribution, installing the cluster
software is possible.
2.1 Choosing a Hardware Configuration
The Red Hat Cluster Manager allows administrators to use commodity hardware to set up a cluster
configuration that will meet the performance, availability, and data integrity needs of applications and
users. Cluster hardware ranges from low-cost minimum configurations that include only the com-
ponents required for cluster operation, to high-end configurations that include redundant heartbeat
channels, hardware RAID, and power switches.
Regardless of configuration, the use of high-quality hardware in a cluster is recommended, as hardware
malfunction is the primary cause of system down time.
Although all cluster configurations provide availability, some configurations protect against every sin-
gle point of failure. In addition, all cluster configurations provide data integrity, but some configura-
tions protect data under every failure condition. Therefore, administrators must fully understand the
needs of their computing environment and also the availability and data integrity features of different
hardware configurations in order to choose the cluster hardware that will meet the proper requirements.
When choosing a cluster hardware configuration, consider the following:
Performance requirements of applications and users
Choose a hardware configuration that will provide adequate memory, CPU, and I/O resources.
Be sure that the configuration chosen will be able to handle any future increases in workload,
as well.