Chapter 1. Overview | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 3. Documentation Conventions | 1.2. Product Benefits |  | |
Chapter 1. Overview | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3. Documentation Conventions | 1.2. Product Benefits | | |
Contents
Abstract
Heartbeat is an open source server clustering system that ensures high availability and manageability of critical network resources including data, applications, and services. It is a multinode clustering product for Linux that supports failover, failback, and migration (load balancing) of individually managed cluster resources. Heartbeat is shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and provides you with the means to make virtual machines (containing services) highly available.
This chapter introduces the main product features and benefits of Heartbeat. Find several exemplary scenarios for configuring clusters and learn about the components making up a Heartbeat version 2 cluster. The last section provides an overview of the Heartbeat architecture, describing the individual architecture layers and processes within the cluster.
Heartbeat includes several important features to help you ensure and manage the availability of your network resources. These include:
Support for Fibre Channel or iSCSI storage area networks
Multi-node active cluster, containing up to 16 Linux servers. Any server in the cluster can restart resources (applications, services, IP addresses, and file systems) from a failed server in the cluster.
A single point of administration through either a graphical Heartbeat tool or a command line tool. Both tools let you configure and monitor your Heartbeat cluster.
The ability to tailor a cluster to the specific applications and hardware infrastructure that fit your organization.
Dynamic assignment and reassignment of server storage on an as-needed basis.
Time-dependent configuration enables resources to fail back to repaired nodes at specified times.
Support for shared disk systems. Although shared disk systems are supported, they are not required.
Support for cluster file systems like OCFS 2.
Support for cluster-aware logical volume managers like EVMS.
