Book Image

Debian 7: System Administration Best Practices

By : Rich Pinkall Pollei
Book Image

Debian 7: System Administration Best Practices

By: Rich Pinkall Pollei

Overview of this book

<p>Debian is one of the most popular Linux-based operating systems, with over 37 thousand software packages available in several architectures. Debian 7 is the latest version of this universal operating system and provides the foundation for thousands of web servers. It is easy to install, stable, and provides mechanisms for system security.</p> <p>Debian 7: System Administration Best Practices provides valuable background information, tips, and advice on the major areas of installing, maintaining, and administering Debian Linux, from single systems to clusters. Learn what makes Debian the most stable and popular Linux distribution for Internet sites.</p> <p>Debian 7: System Administration Best Practices is an overview of what administrators need to know in order to effectively administer Debian Linux systems, providing guidance and advice on what is available, and what experience has shown to work best. Starting with what distinguishes Debian from other Linux distributions, you will learn about the Debian project. Learn about the ways systems are booted, and how best to lay out disk partitions, and the basic methods to install and configure Debian software packages. Discover how to manage Debian systems, from bootup to shutdown, and what security measures may be required for your peace of mind, as well as advice on advanced topics that include high availability clustering.</p>
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Clusters


A cluster is a group of systems that work together in such a way that the whole functions as a single unit. Such clusters can be loosely coupled or tightly coupled. A loosely coupled environment, each system is complete in itself, and can handle all of the tasks any of the other systems can handle. The environment provides mechanisms for redundancy, load sharing, and fail-over between systems, and is often called a High Availability (HA) cluster. In a tightly coupled environment, the systems involved are highly dependent on one another, often sharing memory and disk storage, and all work on the same task together. The environment provides mechanisms for data sharing, avoiding storage conflicts, keeping the systems in synchronization, and splitting up tasks appropriately. This design is often used in super-computing environments.

Note

Clustering is an advanced technique that involves more than just installing and configuring software. It also involves hardware integration, and systems...