Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.
On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 10:15:02AM -0600, kmoogle wrote: > I currently have a 1TB NFS server with an IDE boot drive (/dev/hda) > and a 3ware-based RAID10 (/dev/sda) containing existing customer data. > > For redundancy, we have purchased a second 1TB server with a single > 3ware-based RAID10 (no IDE boot drive). Data is currently replicated > using rsync nightly. > > I'm interested in using drbd, but cannot modify the active fileserver > with customer data outside of perhaps replacing the kernel. No major > (or potentially destructive) modifications can be made to the primary, > active server. > > Can I implement drdb without adversely affecting the primary > fileserver? What changes would I need to make to the existing > filesystems (if any) to either the primary or secondary in order to > implement drbd? No, I don't think you can implement DRBD without doing anything drastic. An acceptable approach may be to set up DRBD and Heartbeat on the current backup fileserver, treating it as a "new" server with DRBD+HA but with a "missing" partner. You can battle test this in the lab pre-deployment, and then schedule maintainance downtime to replace the current fileserver with this "new" server. After this new server has stabilized as a replacement active fileserver, with DRBD+HA albeit with a "missing" partner, you can tear down the current active fileserver, set it up with DRBD+HA to match the new active fileserver but as its partner with DRBD+HA, then you can deploy it. This setup gives you a failover system with realtime data mirroring, which, depending on your setup and objectives, may be desirable and worth all the hassle you'll have to go through. --> Jijo -- Federico Sevilla III : jijo.free.net.ph : When we speak of free software GNU/Linux Specialist : GnuPG 0x93B746BE : we refer to freedom, not price.