/ Chapter 2. Getting Started | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.5. What's New? | 2.2. Software Requirements |  | |
/ Chapter 2. Getting Started | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5. What's New? | 2.2. Software Requirements | | |
Contents
In the following, learn about the system requirements and which preparations to take before installing the High Availability Extension. Find a short overview of the basic steps to install and set up a cluster.
The following list specifies hardware requirements for a cluster based on SUSE® Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. These requirements represent the minimum hardware configuration. Additional hardware might be necessary, depending on how you intend to use your cluster.
1 to 16 Linux servers with software as specified in Section 2.2, “Software Requirements”. The servers do not require identical hardware (memory, disk space, etc.).
At least two TCP/IP communication media. Cluster nodes use multicast for communication so the network equipment has to support multicasting. The communication media should support a data rate of 100 Mbit/s or higher. Preferably, the Ethernet channels should be bonded. bonded.
Optional: A shared disk subsystem connected to all servers in the cluster from where it needs to be accessed.
A STONITH mechanism. STONITH is an acronym for “Shoot the other node in the head”. A STONITH device is a power switch which the cluster uses to reset nodes that are thought to be dead or misbehaving. Resetting non-heartbeating nodes is the only reliable way to ensure that no data corruption is performed by nodes that hang and only appear to be dead.
For more information, refer to Chapter 8, Fencing and STONITH.
