Advice requested for low-tech mirrored server setup with virtual machines

[Hans Vos]

On 06/07/2012 11:41 AM, Hans Vos wrote:
> I currently have 1 server which runs VMware for private development and
> testing purposes. I have two identical servers ready at home that I would
> like to replace my current server with. To be a bit more secure with my
> data and minimize downtime risks I want to have the two servers mirror
> each other (does not have to be a fancy real time fail-over setup).
>
> I am looking for a solution where the image files of my virtual machines
> are mirrored on both servers. In the event of a failure of one of the
> servers I would like to be able to start the virtual machine on the second
> server after migrating the IP address. This process doesn't have to be
> automated. It will suffice for now to do this by hand.
>
> A year ago I experimented a bit with CentOS and Xen. There was a good
> tutorial I was able to find back then which used Xen as virtualization
> technology and DRDB to mirror LVM volumes that functioned as the image
> files for the virtual machines. I prefer using Ubuntu since it is my Linux
> distro of choice at this time, but I cannot make my mind up as to what
> would be a good setup for my wishes.
>
> I hope you guys can provide some wisdom as what would work best using the
> out-of-the-box features of Ubuntu. My knowledge level isn't high enough to
> start using custom technologies and compile them myself. It is my
> understanding that Ubuntu currently has KVM as its default virtualization
> technology. Would a setup like the one described below work for me and are
> there perhaps any good management tools (perhaps web based) to manage and
> monitor such a setup?
>
> - Two servers with Ubuntu
> - Identical partition layout with LVM to use for images for the virtual
> machines
> - KVM as virtualization technology
> - DRBD to mirror the LVM volumes
>
> I look forward to hear your suggestions. It might be something completely
> different as I mentioned here. But I would only like to work with packages
> available in Ubuntu (no custom compiling). I want to be able to keep my
> system up to date using Aptitude. Adding a custom repository would be
> alright also but not preferable. Perhaps there even is some all-in-one
> solution for my request?

I managed to get the setup working I was looking for and written a 
tutorial for other people to use. Any feedback on the tutorial is 
greatly appreciated.

http://www.bluejay.nl/2012/06/23/simple-manual-failover-cluster-with-drbd-lvm-and-kvm-on-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/

--
Kind regards,

Hans Vos