> My problem is that I only have a single public IP address, to serve my web server > and my question is this: > > Is this the end of the road, for installing apache as a service with ONE public IP > address?? > a cluster like that typically needs THREE IP addresses. one for cluster node 1, one for cluster node 2 and one for the shared service, this last IP will be assigned to the currently active host and will be the one clients use to connect. the other two addresses are used for administration and management. in addtion, a robust cluster has one or more dedicated networks (these can be crossover cables, and can/should use private addressing) for redundant heartbeats