STONITH
Encyclopedia
STONITH sometimes called STOMITH ("Shoot The Other Member/Machine In The Head"), is a technique for fencing
in computer clusters. Fencing is the isolation of a failed node
so that it does not cause disruption to a cluster
. As its name suggests, STONITH fences failed nodes by sending a message to remotely power down the failed node.
Two nodes in the same cluster trying to do exactly the same thing can have catastrophic results, such as if both nodes try writing to a shared storage resource. STONITH provides effective, if rather drastic, protection against these problems.
Fencing (computing)
Fencing is the process of isolating a node of a computer cluster when the former is malfunctioning. Isolating a node means ensuring that I/O can no longer be done from it. Fencing is typically done automatically, by cluster infrastructure such as shared disk file systems, in order to protect...
in computer clusters. Fencing is the isolation of a failed node
Node (networking)
In communication networks, a node is a connection point, either a redistribution point or a communication endpoint . The definition of a node depends on the network and protocol layer referred to...
so that it does not cause disruption to a cluster
Cluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
. As its name suggests, STONITH fences failed nodes by sending a message to remotely power down the failed node.
Two nodes in the same cluster trying to do exactly the same thing can have catastrophic results, such as if both nodes try writing to a shared storage resource. STONITH provides effective, if rather drastic, protection against these problems.