Real-world cluster serves as model for building high-availability system.

Nothing demonstrates our dependence on
technology more than when a server goes down and office productivity comes
to a screeching halt. Author Karl Kopper’s real-world response to this
scenario is outlined in The Linux Enterprise Cluster (No Starch Press,
April ‘05). The book describes how he put several inexpensive computers on
a network, installed free software and made the individual machines
operate as one big server called a cluster, thus saving his company time,
money and resources. The Linux Enterprise Cluster goes through every
step needed from start to finish to build a cluster of Linux computers
capable of supporting an entire enterprise reliably and cost-effectively.

Kopper explains that his book doesn’t contain new or arcane technology.
Rather, it contains all of the information and knowledge he gained while
assembling an enterprise-class cluster from scratch for United Natural
Foods, the largest publicly traded wholesale distributor to the natural
and organic foods industry. Kopper did extensive legwork finding free or
open source software and consulting countless websites, open source
experts, help files, email lists and FAQs, as well as leveraging his own
considerable experience supporting large servers and distributed computing
environments. This is the only book to aggregate the most helpful
information - based on actual experience - about enterprise-class Linux
clusters in one reference manual.

The actual cluster that served as the book’s model went live in February
2003 and has experienced virtually no system downtime on a free operating
system built cooperatively by volunteers on the Internet. Kopper sees The Linux Enterprise Cluster as a testament to the power of free software,
online collaboration and the open source community.

“After doing all the research and having success replacing a big
monolithic server with a cluster, I was inspired to share my knowledge
with other system administrators with a similar need,” said Kopper. “It
will be useful to a wide audience, since the cluster of individual
computers can be virtually any size, depending on how much computing
horsepower is required. The book shows that it’s possible to build a very
inexpensive and reliable business system for a small enterprise or large
corporation.”

The Linux Enterprise Cluster is a valuable resource for system
administrators who use Linux; system administrators interested in Linux
but short on experience; students new to the information processing field;
and anyone considering deploying Linux in an environment where low-cost
computer reliability is important. In fact, any systems administrator
charged with keeping mission-critical systems up and running will find
useful techniques here; the book’s second half describes high-availability
techniques that can be used with or without a cluster.

Also described in The Linux Enterprise Cluster:

• How to build a high-availability server using the Heartbeat package

• How to configure a reliable printing systems in a Linux cluster
  environment

• How to build a job scheduling system in Linux with no single point of
  failure

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Karl Kopper has worked for nearly 20 years with distributed computing
environments on many platforms, including Linux, Windows, Macintosh, and
UNIX. He has contributed to the development of numerous Linux and open
source projects, including Heartbeat, Ganglia, Linux Virtual Server (LVS),
Kernel and Zope. When not building high-availability clusters, he enjoys
gardening.