Failover definition
Failover is the ability of a computer system to automatically switch to a reliable backup system when it experiences network or service failure. When a primary system or one of its components fails, failover enables it to get back up and running immediately by switching to a redundant or standby system, server, or hardware device. That way, the services that the primary system offers will always be online and won’t be affected by the failure. This is a great solution for systems and networks that experience regular crashes and disconnects. It also allows the users of those services to get an uninterrupted experience.
See also: network database, server redundancy
Failover benefits
- Can protect databases during system failure or maintenance and allow them to continue to operate.
- Enables maintenance tasks to run automatically without supervision.
- Can be customized to suit your organization’s needs and your network and hardware configurations.
- Can be used on computers, mobile devices, servers, networks, and other hardware devices.
- You can apply failover on many different network components or on a system of components.
- Allows services to run without downtime even if server failure happens.
- Gives organizations time to fix their issues properly.
- Helps avoid downtime and negative user experience.
