Role failover

Failover is a backup operational mode in which a role (system function) is automatically transferred from its primary server to a secondary server that is on standby. This transfer between servers occurs only if the primary server becomes unavailable, either through failure or through scheduled downtime. Role failover is managed by the Directory role.

How role failover works in Security Center

For failover to work in Security Center, you need to define the following two types of servers:

Primary server:
Server that normally hosts a role for it to work on the system.
Secondary server:
Servers on standby that are assigned to a role to keep it running in case the primary server becomes unavailable.

There is no limit to the number of secondary (or standby) servers you can assign to most roles. However, the more servers you add, the less cost-effective it might be for you.

The secondary server of one role can be the primary server of another role, provided that both servers have enough resources (CPU, memory, disk space, and network bandwidth) to handle the combined load of both roles in case of a failover.

IMPORTANT: Security Center does not handle the failover of role databases. To protect your data, perform regular backups of the role database.

Before failover, a role is hosted on the primary server and connects to a database server hosted on a third computer. When the primary server fails, the role automatically fails over to the secondary server and reconnects to the same database server.