The previous chapter, familiarized you with high availability and computer clusters were introduced. You learned that the key components of clusters are computers as cluster members and they run computer cluster software. In this chapter, you will learn how computer clusters work. You will get to know the software that builds a computer cluster, allowing it to function as expected, and the tasks each cluster software component has.

Computers forming a computer cluster must be running a piece of cluster software, which is a bundle of many components. Each of these components has a different task and all of these components work together to satisfy all the cluster requirements and provide the features a computer cluster must implement.

Cluster stack is a phrase used to describe the cluster software used to form a computer cluster. A cluster stack is a software stack and it includes all of the necessary software for normal operation of a cluster. The...