Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Clustering in Linux

What is a Cluster :

A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely so that in many respects they form a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and/or availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability. 


Common terminology in Cluster Environments:

Node : 
It’s one of the system/computer which participates with other systems to form a Cluster.


Heartbeat : 
This a pulse kind of single which is send from all the nodes at regular intervals using a UDP packet so that each system will come to know the status of availability of other node. It’s a kind of door knocking activity like pinging a system, So that each node which are participating in Cluster will come to know the status of other nodes availability in the Cluster.


Floating IP or Virtual IP : 
This is the IP assigned to the Cluster through which user can access the services. So when ever clients request a service they will be arrived to this IP, and client will not know what are the back-end/actual ip addresses of the nodes. This virtual IP is used to nullify the effect of nodes going down.

Master node : 
This is the node most of the time where services are run in a High availability Cluster.


Slave node : 
This is the node which is used in High availability Cluster when master node is down. It will take over the role of servicing the users, when it will not receive heartbeat pulse from master. And automatically gives back the control when the master server is up and running. This slave comes to know about the status of master through heartbeat pulse/signals.


Types of Clusters:

Cluster types can be divided in to two main types :

1. High availability :
These types of Clusters are configured where there should be no downtime. If one node in the cluster goes down second node will take care of serving users without interrupted service with availability of five nines i.e. 99.999%.

2. Load balancing :
These types of Clusters are configured where there are high loads from users. Advantages of load balancing are that users will not get any delays in their request because load on a single system is shared by two or more nodes in the Cluster.


Advantages of Cluster :

1.Reduced Cost : 
2. Processing Power
3. Scalability
4. Availability

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