Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 14:55:21 -0300 (EST)
From: Andreia Shibayama <deia@conectiva.com.br>
To: lwn@lwn.net
Subject: Conectiva Updates High Availability System

Conectiva Updates High Availability System

São Paulo, April 2001 - Conectiva has published several high availability
update solutions for Linux. Among these, the 0.4.9 heartbeat, an
application that checks if the machines in the cluster are responding
appropriately, allowing the service to be always active, and performs
corrections in the DRBD, a network disk replication device that obtains
online disk mirroring. These modifications can be downloaded by all
Conectiva Linux users and are available for the whole community.

The Heartbeat 0.4.9 main feature is that it is more stable than the
previous version, since it was divided into three more specific purpose
packages. Conectiva developers have corrected some bugs related to cluster
start up process, and the DRBD repair is connected with a problem that
happens when the device is used with more than five shared volumes. While
the kernel new version is not released, Conectiva is providing a patch
that can be used to compile a kernel with the same number of volumes.

Next Projects
Due to its open source code, the updates and new features brought in to
the Linux OS are a constant. In this scenario, Conectiva is among the
active participants, maintaining a specialized team of programmers and
developers, releasing important modifications such as the APT (Advanced
Package Tool) for .rpm packages announced at theend of last year
accompanying the Conectiva Linux 6.0.

The team is developing a new version of heartbeat with support to the
resources transition activated by external elements, higher stability and
improved use of the network band. 

They have also started working with real time technology and N cluster
nodes. These projects will allow to maximize and facilitate the use of the
Linux operating system in critical high performance operation missions.

Updates and patches for the Conectiva Linux packages can be obtained at
http://distro.conectiva.com.br.

---
Andreia Shibayama
deia@conectiva.com.br