Application modules for configuring Windows or Unix software clusters

Application centric high availability solution

Cluster configuration for a given application is made with one or several application modules.

SafeKit offers two basic modules: the mirror module (primary/secondary with replication and failover) and the farm module (load balancing with failover).

Several application modules can be deployed on the same software cluster. Thus, advanced clustering architectures can be implemented: mixed farm/mirror, active/active or N-1.

Application integration inside a software cluster

Configuration of an application module is simple and requires to create an Appli.Safe file (zip type) including:

1. the main configuration file userconfig.xml which contains:
   • names or physical IP addresses of the servers,
   • name or virtual IP address of the cluster,
   • file directories to replicate in real time for a mirror module,
   • network load balancing criteria for a farm module,
   • configuration of sofware and hardware failures detectors,
2. the application stop and start scripts.

Plug and play deployment of the software cluster with a module

Once the application module is configured and tested, deployment requires no specific IT skills:

1. install application on 2 standard Windows or Unix servers,
2. install the SafeKit software on both servers,
3. install the application module on both servers,
4. configure the new names of the servers and the cluster,
5. start the software cluster.

Application module templates

SafeKit modules help you get your clustering solution working quicky. The templates are organized into four categories:

• generic modules,
• application modules,
• advanced modules,
• demonstration modules.

Note : In this page, you can download the individual modules and view their contents using a .zip extraction tool. The last versions of modules are delivered inside the SafeKit package.

Generic modules

Start with these modules if you want to make an integration with empty restart scripts.

Generic mirror module: mirror.safe Mirror architecture: primary-backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Generic farm module: farm.safe Farm architecture: network load balancing and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows

Application modules

Apache web server: apache.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Apache web server: apache_farm.safe Farm architecture: network load balancing and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Microsoft IIS web server: iis.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with automatic failover				Windows
Microsoft IIS web server: iis_farm.safe Farm architecture: network load balancing and automatic failover				Windows
MySQL database: mysql.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover		Linux
Oracle database: oracle.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Microsoft SQL server database: sqlserver.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover				Windows
Samba file server: samba.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris
Netfilter firewall: netfilter.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with automatic failover		Linux
Netfilter firewall: netfilter_farm.safe Farm architecture: network load balancing and automatic failover		Linux

Advanced modules

Master module: master.safe Slave module: slave.safe In the master module, shared resources are defined (shared virtual IP, shared files to replicate). In the slave modules, individual start and stop of several applications are isolated. Module dependencies are established between slaves and master.	AIX AIX	Linux Linux	Solaris Solaris	Windows Windows
Module drbd.safe This module is a mirror module with a set of special scripts for synchronizing application failover managed by SafeKit and DRBD replication made at the disk level.		Linux

Demonstration modules

Demonstration modules help you to understand the SafeKit product the first time you use it.

Text editor demonstration : mirrordemo.safe Mirror architecture: Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
SafeKit web service demonstration: farmdemo.safe Farm architecture with network load balancing and automatic failover of a web farm	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Microsoft Paint demonstration: mspaint.safe Primary/backup with real-time file replication and automatic failover				Windows
Virtual hostname demonstration: vhost.safe Technical demonstration of the virtual hostname returned to an application on a cluster	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows
Process monitoring demonstration: softerrd.safe Technical demonstration of process monitoring	AIX	Linux	Solaris	Windows