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Types of Failover Solutions

There are various types of commercial Failover Solutions on the market, but the most popular ones are software-based, as opposed to hardware-based.

Some of the more prominent products used commercially are described in the table below.

Please note that iNTERFACEWARE does not have an affiliation with the listed companies. The list is provided as a resource and convenience to help you decide which solution best suits the needs and requirements of your organization.

Failover SolutionSoftware/Hardware SolutionDescription Link
Veritas Cluster Server (VCS)Software This solution provides cluster functionality to systems running databases, file sharing on a network and other applications. This product uses a cluster heartbeat to monitor the primary server. Should the application fail on the primary server, it automatically moves it to another server. VCS also allows you to perform automated disaster recovery tests without affecting your primary server and is supported on Unix, Linux and Windows. Symantec
SteeleEye LifeKeeper SoftwareThis solution provides clustering capability for applications and databases running on either Windows or Linux. Some of the supported databases include Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL. It also uses a "heartbeat" to monitor the primary server and has two main configurations called Active/Standby and Active/Active. In the Active/Standby configuration, the primary server is responsible for running the application and the backup server stands by, ready to run the program in the event of a failure. In the Active/Active configuration, both servers are active for its native applications.SteeleEye LifeKeeper
Linux-HASoftware This product is an open-source solution, so support for it may be limited at times. However, note that the user group is very active and responsive. This solution involves only a limited amount of hardware (a serial cable and network cable is all that's required). It uses a "heartbeat" to monitor the servers that will be running Iguana. If a server does not respond, the failover is triggered.Linux-HA
Red Hat Cluster SuiteSoftwareThis product functions very similarly to Linux-HA (i.e. uses a "heartbeat" to monitor the servers). However, this system requires more hardware since it relies on a shared, external storage subsystem. Red Hat Cluster Suite
Cisco Catalyst 6500 with Cisco IOS Software ModularityHardware

This product uses a plug-in module to handle the redirection of an IP address when the primary server goes down. To provide this type of functionality, it uses virtual IP addresses (i.e. the failover is implemented by changing the server the IP address is pointing to). It uses a query port, which is a port that can be opened or closed on the switch. Custom scripts can then be written to take advantage of the port. For example, when a failover condition occurs, the script could send a message to the port to switch to the secondary or failover server.

Although Cisco markets this product as a load balancing product, there have been cases where companies have used it as a failover solution.

Cisco
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