Managing HP Serviceguard for Linux, Tenth Edition, September 2012

1 Serviceguard for Linux at a Glance
This chapter introduces Serviceguard for Linux and shows where to find different kinds
of information in this book. It includes the following topics:
• What is Serviceguard for Linux?
• Using Serviceguard Manager (page 22)
• Configuration Roadmap (page 23)
If you are ready to start setting up Serviceguard clusters, skip ahead to Chapter 4
(page 91). Specific steps for setup are in Chapter 5 (page 156).
What is Serviceguard for Linux?
Serviceguard for Linux allows you to create high availability clusters of HP ProLiant and
HP Integrity servers. A high availability computer system allows application services to
continue in spite of a hardware or software failure. Highly available systems protect
users from software failures as well as from failure of a system processing unit (SPU),
disk, or local area network (LAN) component. In the event that one component fails, the
redundant component takes over. Serviceguard and other high availability subsystems
coordinate the transfer between components.
A Serviceguard cluster is a networked grouping of HP ProLiant and HP Integrity servers
(host systems known as nodes) having sufficient redundancy of software and hardware
that a single point of failure will not significantly disrupt service. Application services
(individual Linux processes) are grouped together in packages; in the event of a single
service, node, network, or other resource failure, Serviceguard can automatically transfer
control of the package to another node within the cluster, allowing services to remain
available with minimal interruption.
What is Serviceguard for Linux? 19