Masters Education Program
PARSEC’s Masters Education Program (MEP) isn't your typical online technical seminar.
What if each month you could be a part of a seminar that is geared towards creating best practices for legacy and state-of-art systems with topics such as OpenVMS Crash-Dump Analysis or IP Filtering on UNIX? Would it impress your boss if you learned new methods to ensure current relevance and utility for your company? Would it elevate your job performance, or help you solve a vexing problem? If so, save your seat now in PARSEC's next MEP!
Every month you will learn information inspired by actual case studies that you can apply on-the-spot. We pack technical and practical material into a comfortable 2 hour online session that tops off with ample time for Q&A and valued feedback. Bonus! You get exclusive access to download our extensive documentation at the time of each seminar. Here's a sample list of some of our past seminars:
- Road Trip! VMS Bootcamp 2016 Conference Report
- Bare-Metal System Recovery
- Cleaning Out the Cruft on OpenVMS
- Systemd and Other Major Changes in Redhat Linux 7
- Monitoring OpenVMS with Open-Source SNMP Tools
- OpenVMS Performance Tools
- IP Filtering on Unix
As a perk of being a much appreciated PARSEC support customer, each session is free. If your company is not yet benefiting from PARSEC’s support, you can join any MEP for a modest cost per person. Furthermore, if you sign up for a telephone support contract with us, within 30 days of attending the MEP, we will credit the seminar cost to your support invoice. For as long as you’re a support customer, you will not only enjoy the peace of mind in knowing you’re support needs are covered, but future seminars will be free as well.
DRBD: Unlocking Open-Source Block Device Replication for High Availability and Disaster Recovery
DRBD: Unlocking Open-Source Block Device Replication for High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Many of us remember when having a fiber-optic connection between SANs across a WAN was considered cutting-edge and prohibitively expensive. Major storage vendors like EMC, NetApp, Hitachi, IBM, and Dell have long offered replication solutions under names like TimeFinder, SnapMirror, ShadowImage, FlashCopy, and Live Volume. Other players, such as Pure Storage with ActiveCluster, Huawei with HyperSnap, Fujitsu with AdvancedCopy, and Infinidat with InfiniSnap, offer similar features but at a significant cost. These solutions are often metered, meaning higher usage results in steep licensing fees.
But did you know that Linux offers a powerful, cost-effective alternative for replicating block devices across a network? This technology is called Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRBD). Developed and maintained by LINBIT, DRBD allows you to achieve block-level replication with impressive flexibility, sometimes even surpassing traditional SAN replication. While DRBD's core features are robust and free, enhanced functionality is available through the paid add-on, DRBD Proxy, for extended capabilities over WANs.
Let's dive into the world of DRBD, explore its features, and compare it to these commercial alternatives to see how it stacks up.
= Table of Contents
== 1. Introduction
1.1 The Evolution of Data Replication
1.2 Overview of DRBD
1.3 Why Choose DRBD Over Commercial Solutions?
== 2. Core Concepts of DRBD
2.1 What is a Block Device?
2.2 The Role of Replication in High Availability
2.3 DRBD Architecture Overview
2.4 Modes of DRBD Operation (Primary/Secondary, Dual-Primary)
== 3. Installing and Configuring DRBD
3.1 System Requirements and Prerequisites
3.2 Installing DRBD on a Linux System
3.3 Setting Up a Basic DRBD Resource
3.4 Configuration File Walkthrough
3.5 Testing and Troubleshooting Your Setup
== 4. Advanced Features and Use Cases
4.1 Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Replication
4.2 DRBD Protocols (A, B, C)
4.3 Combining DRBD with Cluster Managers (e.g., Pacemaker, Corosync)
4.4 Scaling DRBD for Multi-Site Deployments
4.5 Data Integrity and Performance Tuning
== 5. DRBD Proxy: Extending Functionality
5.1 What is DRBD Proxy?
5.2 Features of DRBD Proxy for WAN Optimization
5.3 Setting Up DRBD Proxy
5.4 Use Cases for DRBD Proxy in Enterprise Environments
== 6. Comparing DRBD with Commercial Alternatives
6.1 Feature Comparison: DRBD vs. TimeFinder, SnapMirror, etc.
6.2 Cost Benefits of Using DRBD
6.3 Performance Benchmarks and Real-World Examples
== 7. Limitations and Considerations
7.1 Scenarios Where DRBD May Not Be Suitable
7.2 Common Challenges and How to Mitigate Them
7.3 Future Developments in DRBD
== 8. Hands-On Lab/Demo
8.1 Setting Up a DRBD Resource in Real-Time
8.2 Testing Failover and Failback Scenarios
8.3 Simulating Real-World Disaster Recovery with DRBD
== 9. Conclusion and Q&A
9.1 Key Takeaways
9.2 How to Get Started with DRBD
== 10. Appendix
10.1 Useful Commands and Configuration Examples
10.2 Additional Resources and Documentation
10.3 Acknowledgments and References
This training session is scheduled - 1:00pm MST. We link to www.worldtimeserver.com to convert to your local time. Note that this is planned as a 2 hour presentation to provide sufficient time to cover all of the topics. To register or to ask any questions, please contact us via e-mail to experts@parsec.com or fill out the inquiry page.
Worry-Free Delivery
PARSEC Group uses Zoom to deliver our e-Learning to our customers. Zoom provides several options for connecting to the class.
View system requirements here.
Audio is provided via Voice over IP (VoIP) and requires speakers, or a USB headset.
