High availability is a design approach that enables a system
to perform at a higher than normal operational level. This often involves failover and
load balancing.
To ensure that there is uninterrupted access and data protection for your system, Security
Center offers the following high availability features:
Directory failover:
Ensure that the Directory role remains available when its primary server fails. The
Directory role handles failover for all other roles, so it is important that the
Directory role remains available at all times.
Directory load
balancing:
Additional benefit of Directory failover. Up to 5 servers can be assigned to the
Directory role to share its workload. All servers that are set up for Directory failover
are automatically used for load balancing.
Database failover (only for
Directory role):
Protect the Directory database, using one of the following methods:
Backup and restore:
Regularly backup your database, and restore it if a failover occurs.
Microsoft SQL Server Database Mirroring:
The database instances are kept in sync by Microsoft SQL Server.
Archiver failover:
Ensure that the Archiver role and video archiving capability remains available when
the Archiver’s primary server fails.
Other role failover:
Ensure that other roles in your system remain available when their primary server
fails. If the role database must be protected, you should consider one of the following
third party solutions: SQL Server Clustering or Database Mirroring.
NEC ExpressCluster X LAN:
Third party solution for roles that do not support failover. For more information, see Security
Center Installation Guide for NEC
Cluster.
Windows 2008 Server failover cluster:
Third party solution for roles that do not support failover. For more information, see Security
Center Installation Guide for Windows
Cluster.
Other ways you can ensure high availability are to detect problems early, and prevent those
problems from reoccurring.
