ITinfo: High Availability Linux Servers

Red Hat Server Clustering

Fault-Tolerant Linux made easy

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High Availability Linux Servers

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Red Hat Linux now easily supports clustering of multiple servers.

The new operating system, based on Red Hat Linux 6.2 is called Red Hat High Availability Server 1.0 (HAS)

HAS lets network administrators combine multiple individual Linux boxes into a system cluster that significantly improves reliability and fault tolerance of the overall network.

Red Hat HAS offers dynamic load balancing, improved fault tolerance, and scalability of TCP/IP-based applications.

Linux is so inexpensive to purchase, install, and maintain that it's is the fastest growing segment of the network server market, currently accounting for about quarter of the overall market, according to IDC, a market research firm. An even larger portion of all websites globally run on Linux.

Server clusters are a highly-desired option because when one server fails, the remaining server(s) in the cluster can take over the workload until a replacement is installed. I expect Red Hat HAS to be popular not only with internal network administration tasks such as file and print servers but also for Intranet functions such as web servers, ftp servers, mail gateways, firewalls, VPN gateways, and other front-end applications where a high level of availability is important.

What I think is cool about Red Hat's product is its support for mixed network environments. Servers in the cluster can run Red Hat Linux, Sun Microsystems Solaris, Microsoft's Windows, or virtually any other OS, Red Hat High Availability Server has no unusual hardware requirements, unlike its competition; it can be installed on any industry-standard system unit.

Two configurations are possible with Red Hat High Availability Server: 1) fail-over services mode uses two servers to provide simple fail-over backup function and 2) Linux virtual server mode employes two servers that manage load-balancing requests for any number of additional servers.

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updated July 11, 2000
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2000/it000711.html