I want to setup a 2 node cluster for MariaDB Galera cluster. What I read says it "requires" 3 nodes minimum. This is not correct, I am familiar with HA through using pacemaker, and basically, with only 2 nodes, you don't have quorum, which Galera Cluster Uses.
I found a good article, which basically explains, the 2 options I already figured existed.
Option 1:
Disable Quorum Check
SET GLOBAL wsrep_provider_options='pc.ignore_sb=TRUE';
Option 2:
Post Split-Brain, manually tell a node to become Primary
SET GLOBAL wsrep_provider_options='pc.bootstrap=YES';
What I'd like, is to set up a 3rd VM, that doesn't replicate any DB's, but acts an a quorum box.
Is this possible? Any links on HowTo? – Maybe I am over-thinking this, is there a way to join a cluster, but not define any Databases to replicate? (Seemed to me when I set up Galera that it just replicated everything automatically, which is good, but I'm not so sure there is a "don't replicate option")
http://galeracluster.com/documentation-webpages/twonode.html
Best Answer
The GALERA ARBITRATOR is exactly what I needed.
The recommended deployment of Galera Cluster is that you use a minimum of three instances. Three nodes, three datacenters and so on.
Galera Arbitrator serves two purposes:
When you have an even number of nodes, it functions as an odd node, to avoid split-brain situations.
It can request a consistent application state snapshot, for use in making backups.
HowTo:
http://galeracluster.com/documentation-webpages/arbitrator.html