Run ./direct/ctdbd.sh to start a cluster with two ctdb nodes They will listen for clients on the unix domain sockets /tmp/ctdb.socket.127.0.0.1 /tmp/ctdb.socket.127.0.0.2 In order for this to work you must have an interface with the address 127.0.0.2 available. Just create this as an alias for loopback. Then run ./direct/ctdbd_test to connect a client to the ctdbd daemon on /tmp/ctdb.socket.127.0.0.1 and do some commands to it across the domain socket.