Two Cobalts Working in Concert
By Bob Kaehms
Although Cobalt recently introduced the fourth generation of RaQ servers, the 3I series is still a popular choice for mid- and small-size businesses. Cobalt introduced a software based failover feature in 3I, which I wanted to test.
A caveat: I may be a bit biased. I have a Cobalt Qube of my own that serves as the family Web site and gateway to the Internet (see my article in Web Review). When I opened
the box on the two Cobalt RaQ 3Is, my first reaction really was, "Hey, these look
pretty cool."
The RaQ 3Is feature the usual Cobalt LED switches for setting up IP, netmask, and routing, but without the annoying green glow like the one found on the Qube. Also unlike the Qube, the switches are readily visible.
All you need are a few IP addresses, the number of your gateway, and a crossover cable to connect the second (10/100) Ethernets together so you can run them in master/slave mode. This is Cobalt's form
of clustering, a term used for connecting
two or more computers together for such purposes as parallel processing, load
balancing, or (in the case of the 3I) fault tolerance.
