Every construction project relies on a few critical components. When building a house, the critical components include the foundation, plumbing, and electrical wiring. When building a computing environment, the critical components include a robust operating system, file, and network services.

This IBM Redbooks publication takes a modular approach to building an e-business on demand infrastructure. It covers many topics including Linux installation on IBM eServer BladeCenter and IBM Fibre Array Storage Technology (FAStT) storage area network (SAN) storage. This book explains:

• How to implement failover for core Internet services
• How to use a single LDAP directory for Linux system accounts, Apache, Samba, Postfix, Sendmail, and Jetspeed
• An implementation of load balanced services using Linux Virtual Server (LVS), and failover with Linux Heartbeat
• How to install and configure critical file services using Linux, Network File System (NFS), Samba, and IBM FAStT storage
• Practices for security, systems management, configuration, and performance

If you are looking to reduce the cost of your computing infrastructure, provide critical IT services, install Linux on BladeCenter blades, and install and configure SAN storage with Linux and BladeCenter, this book is for you.

Chapter 1. About the book: Blueprint for building an e-business application for BladeCenter

Chapter 2. Architecture: Solution overview

Chapter 3. Foundation

Chapter 4. Plumbing: Network infrastructure

Chapter 5. Wiring: File services with Samba and NFS

Chapter 6. Doorways: Web serving and messaging

Chapter 7. Living spaces: Applications and portal server

Chapter 8. Cabinetry: Open source databases

Chapter 9. Security

Chapter 10. Household maintenance: System management and application development