Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Second Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Second Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken the data centers by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution that leads the way with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. With this book as your guide, you will learn all about Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concept of user management, group management, and filesystem permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will cover setting up KVM/QEMU, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of the book, you will be an expert Ubuntu Server administrator who is well-versed in its advanced concepts.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)

Setting up failover with keepalived

Using keepalived is a great way to add high availability to an application or even a hosted website. keepalived allows you to configure a floating IP (also known as a Virtual IP or VIP) for a pool of servers, with this special IP being applied to a single server at a time. Each installation of keepalived in the same group will be able to detect when another server isn't available, and claim ownership of the floating IP whenever the master server isn't responding. This allows you to run a service on multiple servers, with a server taking over in the event another becomes unavailable.

keepalived is by no means specific to Apache. You can use it with many different applications and services, NGINX being another example. keepalived also allows you to create a load balanced environment as well.

Let's talk a little bit about how keepalived...