Linux Clustering has become more popular and important over the last few years. This course teaches students to install, manage and configure a Highly Available Linux Cluster. Linux Clustering falls into two basic camps: HA, which we cover in this course and High Performance Computing (HPC) which we don’t cover extensively in this course. If you are interested in using Linux Clustering for HPC or to create super computers (same thing) then talk to an ISA representative.

Who Should Attend?

Systems administrators and support personnel who need to install, manage and support a highly available Linux Cluster.

Class Ouline

Introducing Linux High Availability

• Linux Cluster Components
  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Shared File Systems
  • Other Features
• Cluster Installation and Management Overview
  • Installation
  • Management
• Shared File System Overview
  • Attributes
  • RAID Issues
• Heartbeat Overview
  • Attributes
  • Failover Overview
• Highly Available Resources
  • Making Applications Highly Available

Installing Hardware for Linux High Availability

• General Linux Configuration Rules
  • Rules and Restrictions
  • SCSI Bus Overview
  • SCSI Hardware
• Linux Hardware Components
  • Supported Platforms
  • Network Adapters
  • SCSI Bus Adapters
  • Storage Solutions
  • Network Cabling
  • SCSI Cables and Termination
  • Serial Port Cabling
• Configuring Linux-Compatible Hardware
  • Preparing for Installation
  • Installing the Network Interfaces
  • Installing the SCSI Adapter(s)
  • Installing the External Disk(s)
  • Cable Installation

Installing Linux

• Preliminary Setup Tasks
  • Introduction
  • Hardware Configuration
  • Licensing
  • Planning the Installation
• Installing Linux
  • Booting the Primary System
  • Using YAST
  • File System Options
  • Choosing Installation Components
  • Completing the Installation
• Networking Configuration
  • Configuring Network Interfaces
  • Testing Connectivity
• Serial Port Configuration
  • Serial Port Testing
• X-Windows Installation and Configuration
  • Graphics Installation
  • Setting up X
  • Testing

Creating the Shared File Systems

• Creating a RAID Array
  • Installation
  • Configuration
• Preparing the Shared Disk(s)
  • Creating File Systems
  • Creating Mount Points
  • Testing Configuration

Installing NFS and Samba

• Installing NFS
• Configuring NFS
• Installing Samba
• Configuring Samba

Creating the HA Cluster

• About Heartbeat
  • Obtaining Heartbeat
• Configuring the Primary System
  • Installing Heartbeat
  • Configuring Heartbeat
  • Verifying Heartbeat
  • Verifying NFS
  • Verifying Samba
• Configuring the Secondary System
  • Testing the Heartbeat

Managing the HA Cluster

• Testing Failover
• Verifying Shared Resources

Networking and HA

• Basic Network Issues
• Highly Available Network Resources
  • BIND
  • DHCP
  • Apache
  • Other Resources

Making Highly Available Applications

• General Rules
  • Installation
  • Configuration
  • Failover Testing