DRBD stands for Distributed Replicated Block Device. Mainline in the Linux kernel since 2.6.33, it is used to replicate data at the block level over the network in a "network RAID1" fashion. It is generally deployed as a cost effective, shared-nothing alternative to a SAN and used as the building block for high availability clusters. Pacemaker is currently the de facto open-source cluster resource manager (CRM) for Linux HA clustering. With it, nodes and services can be monitored and managed to ensure maximum uptime in the face of the most severe service and hardware level failures. Combining the two allows admins to %99.999 uptime at a fraction of the price of proprietary alternatives.

In LINBIT's second PLUG Advance Topics installment, Adam Gandelman will give a more in-depth view of DRBD and Pacemaker and demonstrate how they work closely together to keep applications running and consistent. During the second half of the presentation, Adam will provide attendees with a real-world example by configuring a highly-available LAMP cluster from the ground up. Though geared toward web services, the concepts presented can easily be expanded to provide the HA gaurantee to virtually any Linux service.

Agenda: - Brief re-introduction to DRBD, Pacemaker and HA clustering concepts. - Overview of various use cases and interesting deployments - Configuration and implementation of a highly-available LAMP cluster using DRBD for data redundancy and Pacemaker for resource management.

Adam Gandelman is an expert in open-source clustering and high availability. Originally from New England, Adam lives in Portland, OR where he has been working at LINBIT, developers of DRBD and maintainers of Heartbeat. Aside from providing top-level Linux High-Availability and Disaster Recovery consulting for customers in the Americas, he leads LINBIT training courses in the US, doubles as a technical writer and regularly contributes to related open-source projects.

Join us for the first meeting of the school year as the Northwest Education Cluster meets for a networking event held in conjunction with the Portland EdTech Meetup group for informal discussions on topics of common interests in education. Featured this month are presentations from Switchboard and Cel.ly, recent ventures that got their start here in Portland.

Clarity Innovations is sponsoring this event because we believe in fostering relationships and synergies within the education and training industries to make it a driving force of the Northwest economy. Enjoy free pizza and beer as you network and mingle with peers to celebrate the Back-to-School season!