Results 1 to 18 of 18
  1. #1

    Private Rack + Redundancy Server

    Hello,

    We are moving our servers to a Private Rack at Ev1.

    My main goal using the Private Rack is having a Redundancy Server that will run exactly the same things of all the other servers, so if any server goes down I just set that production server IP to the Redundancy Server and customers will have minimal downtimes.

    Although I never made this before, but I am thinking about doing this way:

    Server 1 - Xeon 2.4 - 73GB SCSI
    Server 2 - Xeon 2.4 - 73 GB SCSI

    Redundancy Server - Xeon 2.4 - 400GB SATA

    They will be running cPanel on all those servers so Server 1) and 2) will be sending all the cPanel configs (new accounts, etc) and Data to the Redundancy server via Rsync(?).

    My questions:

    1) How will I sync cPanel Server 1) and 2) to the Redundancy Server ?

    2) How often should I run Rsync ? Daily ?

    3) Anybody can give me a hand with this ?

    Thank you very much.
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Under The Floor Tiles
    Posts
    566
    Well, in cPanel I believe there is a control panel for setting Master/Slave servers or clustering. Also, if you want to literally change the IP, you should consider using anycast, which is what the root DNS server clusters use to broadcast each cluster on one IP. Either that, or you can just use round-robin DNS or buy a hardware load balancing device.

  3. #3
    Originally posted by FlashwireGroup
    Well, in cPanel I believe there is a control panel for setting Master/Slave servers or clustering. Also, if you want to literally change the IP, you should consider using anycast, which is what the root DNS server clusters use to broadcast each cluster on one IP. Either that, or you can just use round-robin DNS or buy a hardware load balancing device.
    Thank you for your reply

    So If I setup the cPanel Cluster it will replicate all my configurations and data and everything to the Redundant Server ?
    Then if I shutdown Server 1) and put Primary IP from Server 1) assigned to Redundant Server it will work ?
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Under The Floor Tiles
    Posts
    566
    Originally posted by maxihost
    Thank you for your reply

    So If I setup the cPanel Cluster it will replicate all my configurations and data and everything to the Redundant Server ?
    Then if I shutdown Server 1) and put Primary IP from Server 1) assigned to Redundant Server it will work ?
    I'm not so sure. I manage mostly DirectAdmin servers, so I think you'd get better advice from someone who's used cPanel recently

  5. #5
    Hrm... I think cPanel Cluster will do only DNS Cluster.
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  6. #6
    Originally posted by maxihost
    Hrm... I think cPanel Cluster will do only DNS Cluster.
    I believe that's correct.

    To the OP: One thing you could do is set up 3 nameservers, and have ns1, ns2, and ns3 go to your 3 servers, respectively.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    North Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    4,164
    If you're looking to run normal web hosting on these servers, and expecting cPanel to run properly, you really need to rethink...

    Firstly note that none of what you want to do (apart from DNS) is actually supported by cPanel, and you'll need to manually hack everything else for it to even work in the slightest.

    I've tried doing this (clustering over multiple servers), and it is an impossible task ... you can get so far as editing wwwacct so accounts are created on both boxes, that's simple enough, but then you've got password changes, files constantly changing, databases to deal with.

    Your best bet is a seriously good server with RAID disks, dual CPU's, dual NIC's, dual PSU's, etc ... something rock solid that will hardly ever go down.

    Dan
    █ Dan Kitchen | Technical Director | Razorblue
    █ ddi: (+44) (0)1748 900 680 | e: dkitchen@razorblue.com
    █ UK Intensive Managed Hosting, Clusters and Colocation.
    █ HP Servers, Cisco/Juniper Powered BGP Network (AS15692).

  8. #8
    Originally posted by RazorBlue - Dan
    If you're looking to run normal web hosting on these servers, and expecting cPanel to run properly, you really need to rethink...

    Firstly note that none of what you want to do (apart from DNS) is actually supported by cPanel, and you'll need to manually hack everything else for it to even work in the slightest.

    I've tried doing this (clustering over multiple servers), and it is an impossible task ... you can get so far as editing wwwacct so accounts are created on both boxes, that's simple enough, but then you've got password changes, files constantly changing, databases to deal with.

    Your best bet is a seriously good server with RAID disks, dual CPU's, dual NIC's, dual PSU's, etc ... something rock solid that will hardly ever go down.

    Dan
    Dan,

    I have an idea, not the best but probably work

    1- Copy weekly/daily the accounts manually using cPanel Copy Multi Accounts functions (Just select new accounts to be copied, as cPanel will show the already existant as red)

    2- Rsync /home directory and /var/lib/mysql daily to automaticaly sync data, mail and databases

    What you think ?

    New accounts will probably not have redundancy until admin go and copy the accounts
    And old customers will have redundancy with 1 day old data, mail and database
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    1,443
    If you have Dynamic content, why not rsync it every 15 minutes to an hour?
    Synergy Blue LLC
    SonataWeb.net | SynergyBlue.com
    USA should so something about: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

  10. #10
    VapoRub,

    My servers will have 450 sites 70% of them dynamic and with databases.
    Dont you think it will load too much servers synching that much ?

    Also, if I got any hack attempt I get time to place redundant server in place while investigate the main server

    What are your suggestions ?

    Should I just sync /home and /var/lib/mysql or any other thing ?

    Thank you very much
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Chicago, Illinois
    Posts
    884
    Use the mysql replicate functions to keep a cluster of database servers going.

    Then you just need to get the flat files copied over to the other machines in case of downtime.
    Neosurge Web Services since 2002
    Neosurge VPS Hosting

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    North Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    4,164
    You can certainly do that as a backup method, but to be honest I think it's overkill ... a faster, higher spec, and more redundant server will cost you the same price and do the job much better.

    A server with redundant everything, RAID disks, etc, is much less likely to fail than a standalone machine, then you've got the time required to switch IP's, etc ... your sites are probably going to be down longer using your "redundancy server" method, than with a good solid server.

    You also haven't taken into account the possible failiure of a network uplink, which would take your entire setup down if it did occurr.

    Dan
    █ Dan Kitchen | Technical Director | Razorblue
    █ ddi: (+44) (0)1748 900 680 | e: dkitchen@razorblue.com
    █ UK Intensive Managed Hosting, Clusters and Colocation.
    █ HP Servers, Cisco/Juniper Powered BGP Network (AS15692).

  13. #13
    Dan,

    I had a kernel panic at a Dual Xeon 3.2 RAID 0+1 (4 DISKS 250GB SATA). Everything was dual in this box and I couldnt prevent that kernel panic.

    I am not being relaxed on a single box running all the stuff
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Posts
    1,769
    Have you considered moving the MySQL databases to a separate server so that if the web server fails your databases will still be okay? Also, moving DNS to separate boxes could help.
    [QuickPacket™] [AS46261]
    Located in Ashburn, VA, Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL, and Manchester, UK
    Since 2003 - 20+ Years! Dedicated Servers, Co-location, DDoS Filtering, Data Backup & More!

  15. #15
    So I can use cPanel DNS Clustering to replicate my DNS zones, MySQL Replicate function to replicate my Databases and Rsync to Replicate my Files

    Am I missing anything ?

    Anything else that should be done ?
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    New York City
    Posts
    995
    What you really want to be doing if this is the route you want is:

    1) MySQL Replication
    2) rsync to replicate everything else
    3) Colocation/dedicated server facility capable of offering you a load balanced / clustered setup with hot failover options.

    Sam
    Sam Machiz / Director, Product Development / Ubersmith
    smachiz[at]ubersmith.com / [direct] 212-812-4194

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Behind your monitor.
    Posts
    569
    I am not familair with mysql replication, but I would say rsync everything. It is hardly a load drain and is quite fast even on very active servers. It only writes what has changes.

    With cPanel you can use the cluster feature, but you should have at least two dns servers runing as there is no point in having all the redundancy of rsync in place if your nameservers go down.

    If you go with an external DB server, then you need at least one to be replicated. So you have to servers there. If one was on a budget, your 2 db servers could also run as nameservers.

    So you have 2 birds with one stone.

    Now you have the master file server and its mirror to consider.

    I think you can do a fairly decent job with 4 servers, depending on loads, etc, etc.
    GlowHost → Affordable Managed Web Hosting Since 2002.
    ۪Cloud Servers- Hot Failover + Clustered Storage
    ¬Managed Dedicated Servers - Semi-Dedicated Servers
    ۪Shared & Reseller packages - 20 Min Ticket Response - 24/7/365 Phone & Live Chat

  18. #18
    Anybody that can work on this for us ?

    Please contact me at gui@maxihost.com.br
    The Cloud Platform for Bare Metal
    Instant Deployment of High-Performance Bare Metal Servers in 15 cities globally
    Latitude.sh (Formerly Maxihost)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •