[Linux-cluster] Cluster Planning

[Scott Kellogg]

Hello,

I was wondering if I could get some assistance in setting up a two  
node cluster.

We have 2 Dell PowerEdge 850 machines running RHEL4.  Our license for  
Cluster Suite is still in purchasing.  The main thing in the Cluster  
Suite documentation which confuses me is the use of a SAN.  RHEL4  
docs claim that the need for a SAN has been eliminated, but I'm  
having trouble find more information.  Most of the docs assume you  
are using a SAN. My customer could not afford the SAN, just the servers.

I would like to set up a high-availablity environment.  I understand  
that due to the hardware configuration (no SAN, no RAID) that there  
are still points of failure.  I'm hoping to set up a simple active- 
passive configuration.  We will be running LAMP applications.  If the  
primary server cannot deliver services, I'd like to automatically cut  
over to the backup.

Ideally, I'd like to set up active-active and load balancing, since  
the servers have DRAC4 fence devices for use with STONITH.  However,   
since there is no SAN, I'm not sure how data will be mirrored across  
the two machines.

Any help is appreciated!

Thank you,
Scott Kellogg