High Availability And Redundancy In Data Center

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In this fast-changing information environment, Organizations can't afford for their critical systems to fail when they're most needed.  Every type of organization must ensure that its computer activities are always active. Losing clients, harming the company's reputation, and other financial distress are all repercussions of downtime.

High availability, which basically states they should never fail, is demanded by all businesses.  Numerous enterprises have now been forced to move away from their underwhelming on-premises data solutions and more towards reliable colocation services and cloud computing due to the requirement for greater reliability.

This article outlines why mission-critical systems should maintain high availability (HA) and redundancy. Read on to discover more.

WHAT IS HIGH AVAILABILITY?

High availability is the main factor to make sure the service is always available even if the server fails. High-availability systems, environments, and high-availability servers are frequently used interchangeably. It allows Your IT infrastructure to operate even if some of its parts fail.

For systems that are mission-critical, high availability is essential since a service disruption could negatively affect the business, resulting in additional expenses or financial losses. High availability assures that the IT team has taken all necessary efforts to ensure business continuity, even though it does not completely eliminate the chance of service disruption.

 

HOW IS HIGH AVAILABILITY ACHIEVED?

 

  • Establish several application servers

Overloaded servers are frequently sluggish or eventually crash. To maintain application efficiency and minimize downtime, you must implement the applications across a variety of servers.

  • Scaling up and down

Scaling your servers up or down depending on the demand and availability of the application is another method for achieving high availability. At the server level, you can accomplish both vertical and horizontal scalability.

  • Maintain a regular automated internet backup system.

Automating backup ensures the security of your crucial business data. It is a wise move that pays off in a variety of situations, such as internal sabotage, natural calamities, and corrupted files.

Calculating how long a specific system is completely functional during a given timeframe is the standard method for gauging availability. This statistic is expressed as a percentage, and its calculation is as follows:

Availability = (minutes in a month - minutes of downtime) * 100/minutes in a month

WHAT IS DATA CENTER REDUNDANCY?

 In order to survive disturbances that could have an effect on business continuity and data availability, data centre infrastructure is built to be extremely resilient. That indicates that crucial backup mechanisms are set up to ensure system uptime during maintenance activities as well as prevent system downtime in the event of unforeseen events like equipment failure and power outages.

For colocation data centres that adhere to tight service level agreements (SLAs) that ensure a minimum degree of uptime availability to their clients, data centre redundancy is crucial. The same standards apply to cloud service providers, who might not be hosting client infrastructure but are nonetheless dedicated to making workloads and applications accessible. More downtime in a data centre due to improper redundancy soon results in financial losses through SLA pay-outs, customer turnover, and a tarnished reputation.

 

WHY IS DATA CENTER REDUNDANCY IMPORTANT?

Because most businesses can no longer tolerate any kind of downtime in their operations, the maximum acceptable period of disruption (MTPD) is steadily declining. Companies are under increasing pressure and demand to be able to sustain uptime and recover more rapidly from a disruption, regardless of what caused it.

Making sure data is secure and safe involves several different factors. One of those essential elements is implementing a well-planned redundancy strategy into your data centre environment. An organization's financial line, company operations, and customer experience can all be negatively impacted by system failures, which can also result in catastrophic revenue loss, missed business opportunities, and a damaged reputation.

 

LEVEL OF REDUNDANCY

N classifications are used in data centres to measure levels of redundancy. N stands for duplication unit and represents a fundamental measure of functionality. It stands for the support systems required to maintain a data centre running at maximum efficiency and under a given workload. Some important tools and services would be impacted by any breakdown.

Since few data centres operate at this level, N+1 is the industry standard for minimal redundancy. A typical design suggests adding 1 extra unit for every 4 required. As a result, this level of redundancy guarantees that for every four components used in a data centre, an additional element is added as a backup, ensuring that there is a backup to fall back on in case of failure or malfunction.

After the classification, the system N+2 is entirely superfluous. It is comparable to a data centre architecture that has two separate distribution systems in addition to one replicated system. For every four units in use, the systems have 2 extra component units. In other words, if one power source fails, the other must continue to operate and support the entire load, preventing any potential downtime brought on by the loss of one side of the system. As a result, a data centre can typically handle more thorough maintenance while still handling the full workload.

HIGH AVAILABILITY AND REDUNDANCY A NO-BARRIER BUSINESS INVESTMENT

Regardless of the size and nature of your organization, any downtime can be expensive. Every hour that a service is unavailable reduces income, turns away clients, and puts company data in danger. If you have the correct use case, investing in high availability is a no-brainer decision because the cost of downtime vastly outweighs the price of a well-designed IT system.

To determine the best choice for you, we always advise having conversations with your account representative, sales engineer, and solution architect. When it comes to your particular deployment, the IXORA DC team of professionals is always available to help and offer advice. Feel free to contact us for the cloud service.

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