[systemd-devel] [IDEA] systemd as basis for HA clusters

[Lennart Poettering]

On Fri, 19.07.13 21:05, Pablo Nehab Hess (pablo at hess.net.br) wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I was wondering how much systemd could add to current high
> availability cluster setups.
> 
> Today systemd is used on HA clusters as just an init replacement.
> However, there are systemd features that might come in handy and
> improve the overall performance and even reliability of such clusters:
> 
> * watchdog functionality as in
> <http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/watchdog.html> is the most evident
> feature;
> * tcp-based dbus communication could be used to exchange information
> between cluster members;
> 
> Also, I believe systemd functionality could be extended so it would
> take into consideration other nodes' systemd instances in order to
> make sure each service is always alive somewhere -- call it "floating
> units" if you will. :-)
> 
> Does this idea even make sense? Is it too "one systemd to rule them all"?

Well, I don't really know what exactly HA clusters would need. However,
note that we actually do try to draw the line somewhere where systemd
ends... I have the suspicion the HA cluster stuff something which could
make great use of systemd's comprehensive bus interfaces, but I am not
convinced such a project should sit in systemd itself.

Lennart

-- 
Lennart Poettering - Red Hat, Inc.