clustering with heartbeat and shared storage (HEARTBEAT)

This document (3566397) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

Situation

You want to cluster N machines with heartbeat and connect them to an arbitrary shared storage.

If, for any reason, you encounter a split brain situation in your cluster and you have a shared storage but no STONITH configured chances are very good that a filesystem/device will be mounted/accessed twice. This will lead to data corruption and maybe data loss.

Resolution

You have to configure and use STONITH in case of using a heartbeat cluster and a shared storage.

SUSE will take no responsibility if you encounter any data corruption or data loss, if you operate a heartbeat cluster with a shared storage without properly tested and configured STONITH.

Using a heartbeat cluster with shared storage but without working STONITH puts your data at risk.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.