Linus Torvalds Greenlights DRBD for Linux Kernel

Linus Torvalds has merged open source data replication solution DRBD into Linux as a fully supported component.

After exactly 10 years of ongoing development work – software developer Phil Reisner wrote the first line of code on December 8, 1999 – Torvalds’ acknowledgment means DRBD has become a fixture on the storage market.

DRBD’s history is quite remarkable. Reisner originally published the Distributed Replicated Block Device as part of his Master’s thesis at the Vienna University of Technology. Originally intended as a means of storing email messages in a redundant fashion, Reisner quickly realized the full potential of the newly developed solution. In November 2001, he co-founded LINBIT, a Vienna, Austria based enterprise focused on advancing the development of DRBD and Linux High-Availability.

In May 2005, Lars Ellenberg joined LINBIT to lead its R&D team with Phil Reisner. His dedication has been a priceless addition to the LINBIT development team. January 2007, DRBD 8 was released which broke previous performance barriers and at the same time introduced active-active clustering capability, allowing simultaneous write access from two cluster nodes. In 2008, LINBIT USA, LLC was founded to offer development, consultancy, 24/7 support, and OEM/ISV integration services in North, Central and South America. Recently, LINBIT attracted considerable attention by open-sourcing DRBD+, a formerly commercially licensed add-on that offered three and four node clustering support.

The 2.6.33 Linux kernel release, of which DRBD will be an integral part, is currently expected for February 2010.

DRBD® is a registered trademark of LINBIT in the United States, the European Union, and many other countries.