13.8. Starting the Cluster

To start the LVS cluster, it is best to have two root terminals open simultaneously or two simultaneous root open ssh sessions to the primary LVS router.

In one terminal, watch the kernel log messages with the command:

tail -f /var/log/messages

Then start the cluster by typing the following command into the other terminal:

/sbin/service pulse start

Follow the progress of the pulse service's startup in the terminal with the kernel log messages. When you see the following output, the pulse daemon has started properly:

gratuitous lvs arps finished

To stop watching /var/log/messages, type [Ctrl]-[c].

From this point on, the primary LVS router is also the active LVS router. While you can make requests to the cluster at this point, you should start the backup LVS router before putting the cluster into service. To do this, simply repeat the process described above on the backup LVS router node.

After completing this final step, the cluster will be up and running.