I started configuring Linux Clusters and systems like Heartbeat back in 2003 when Red Hat Linux was becoming more prevalent in corporate IT systems. It was a tough job and I had a lot of restless nights configuring the system. Things never worked out well and we turned to forums and newsgroups for advice. That's the use of Open Source software - you get help from plenty of "Engineers" on the internet but the advice may not always work. Read on for what exactly Heartbeat does for a Linux Cluster.
Heartbeat is a subsystem that allows a primary and a back-up Linux server to determine if the other is "alive" and if the primary isn't, fail over resources to the backup. Heartbeat uses inter-server signaling called "heartbeats" over serial, User Datagram Protocol and PPP/UDP connections, and handles the process of the transfer of the server's IP addresses.
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