Hi all,
I want to start experimenting with clusters, and I would like to use normal desktop grade hardware for this. I have some extra PC components lying around, enough to build 3 - 4 moderate desktops with a PIV / C2D CPU & 512MB - 1GB RAM each. All the machines should have at least a 100MB NIC, but I can add a gigabit NIC to the machines that doesn't have it if need be.
I have used Linux Heartbeat to failover a MySQL cluster before, and it's actually been running very well for about 3 years now. But, I want to start looking @ total clustering, with DRBD - where everything (not just MySQL) is being replicated across the 4 machines. I'm also intereated in load balancing.
Has anyone done anything like this?
The cluster will be running / hosting a few XEN Virtual Machines, and idealy if one PC / server dies (hardware failure / power failure / etc), then on of the other machines should still be running the virtual machines, i.e. no downtime. Is this possible? Can somone steer me into a direction where I can get more info on this?
My aim: to use common, cheap PC equipment & CentOS for the project, I don't want to spend any more money, and want to use what I have.