How to install redhat cluster suite in RHEL5

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi All,

We have license for Redhat Enterprise Linux...

Recently we have installed RHEL 5 and registered with RHN...

I am able to update the patches and install the packages from RHN...

But yum is not even listing redhat cluster suite packages...

My questions:

1)How to install redhat cluster suite packages?

2)Do I need any separate entitlement for redhat cluster suite?

[Chhaya_Z]

Hi Senthil,

In order to install the software packages required for Red Hat Cluster Suite, all nodes should be subscribed to the Red Hat Cluster Suite channel in Red Hat Network (RHN).  The Red Hat Cluster Storage channel should also be added to the nodes if they will require access to packages for GFS, GFS2, lvm2-cluster, or gnbd.   

You can use the following steps to add child channels such as Red Hat Application Server, Red Hat Cluster Suite, Red Hat Developer Suite, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS Extras, and numerous Beta channels. Child channels will only be available for a valid subscription. Use the Channels tab to view the software channels available for your account.

1. For a system that is already registered to RHN, log into your account.

2. Select the Systems tab along the top menu. This will bring up the System Overview.

3. If the System Overview menu shows System Groups, select View Systems, to see the Systems list.

4. Select the desired system by clicking the system name link under the System column.

5. Select the Alter Channel Subscriptions link under the Subscribed Channels section (on the right side of the page).

6. To modify the child channels associated with this system, use the checkboxes next to the channels and click the Change Subscriptions button. You will receive a success message or be notified of any errors.

To verify that the child channel is now associated with the system, use the yum repolist command.

Subscribing the nodes to those two child channels will provide them access to two new package groups "Clustering" and "Cluster Storage".

The entire set of Default Packages from either the Cluster or Cluster Storage group can be installed manually using the yum command:

# yum groupinstall Clustering

# yum groupinstall "Cluster Storage"
 
Alternatively, a subset of those packages can be installed if the entire group is not needed.  For example:

# yum install cman lvm2-cluster kmod-gfs gfs-utils

Hope this helps....

Regards,

Chhaya

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi Chhaya,

Please find the attached files having details of channels available  under one of my registered system and my subscription details with redhat...

My Questions:

1)Do I have channel entitlement for RHEL Cluster-Storage and RHEL Clustering? If not how to get that for my subscription?

2)If I use Beta RHEL Cluster-Storage and RHEL Clustering, Will Redhat provide support for my cluster setup?

3)What does "Consumes a regular entitlement" mean? (It is mentioned under "Entitlement Usage" in Software Channel Subscriptions page?

[Matti_Kurkela]

1. In RedHat's original licensing model for RHEL5, they had essentially two server versions: the basic RHEL 5, which was restricted to 2 CPU sockets and no clustering, and RHEL 5 AP (Advanced Platform), which supported more CPUs, clustering and virtualization out-of-the-box. The "Premium" in your subscription details refers to RedHat support level and response time only. According to your list of available channels, your subscription does not include production-level "RHEL Clustering" channel. So your subscription is probably premium-level support for RHEL5 Basic. As RHEL 6 was released, the licensing model for all RedHat products changed (again). In current RedHat terminology, you would probably need to purchase a "High-Availability Add-On" for your existing subscription. But you might want to ask a RedHat representative to get the latest word: after all, you're already one of their premium support customers, so they have a good incentive to serve you well.
2. As far as I understand, the beta-level packages won't have production-level support. Since the beta-level packages are related to future products, RedHat will probably be interested in knowing of any problems you'll encounter and will help whenever possible with reasonable effort, but no guarantees will be provided.
3. For example, if you have purchased one RHEL 5 AP originally and 3 High-Availability Add-Ons later, you would be entitled to receive patches for a total of 4 systems with the RHEL Clustering installed. In RHN terminology, that means 4 entitlements. "Regular" entitlement is the ordinary version: apparently there are  special versions of some entitlements (I guess perhaps Virtual Machine-only entitlements, which should be cheaper than regular ones, but usable only in a VM guest.)

[Chhaya_Z]

Ya i agree with Matti Kurkela. For more detailed and current  information about entitlements you should call Redhat support. Since you a phone support included in your subscribtion, they will be the right people to answer all your queries on entitlements.

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi Matt & Chhaya,

I have some more questions.

1)So If we have basic RHEL 5 license, the OS will not support more than 2 cpu sockets even if there are more than 2 cpu sockets available in server, Am I correct?


2)Does It mean that OS won't detect the processors installed in CPU sockets?

3)How we can find whether all the CPUs installed in the server are detected by OS / how many CPUs detected out of installed CPUs?

[Matti_Kurkela]

1.) I don't think RedHat has modified the standard Linux kernel as much as to stop it from working in that case. But the CPU information is included in the system profile that is sent to RedHat Network when you register it to RHN; if you want to use RedHat support services, they may tell you "the basic license does not cover high-level systems such as this; we won't answer your question unless you buy the appropriate licenses to be within compliance." If you're running a lot of systems with inappropriate license types, RedHat might close your RHN access because of licensing violations.

2.) No, I don't think so. See above. The system might output a log message telling you that you're outside the supported configuration, though.

3.) See the outputs of "dmidecode" and "less /proc/cpuinfo". Dmidecode simply reads the hardware information as provided by the BIOS/firmware, so it is likely to list the number of installed CPUs correctly. On the other hand, /proc/cpuinfo contains information about CPUs as the kernel sees them.

Also, at boot time the system outputs messages about each CPU activation to the kernel message buffer. You can use "dmesg" to view the message buffer, or you can find the same messages logged in files in /var/log.

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi,

I have received the qoute for redhat cluster license...

I need to set up two node cluster environment...

Right now I having 8 Basic RHEL license with premium support...

So could you please suggest me the correct license to sett up two node  cluster environment with RHN support...

And could you please explain me about each license?