Importance of Network Redundancy and Failover

Technology has come a long ways since the beginning of the internet with many innovations. Two of the most useful in the world of computing and networking are redundancy and failover. These two concepts can make the difference between being a good web host and a not so good web host!

If you’re on your computer and it begins to fail, your instinct is to switch to another computer as quickly as possible. If you’re using a good web host, you’ll be switching to another computer as quick as possible. This is a method of redundancy and failover. Network redundancy is what allows one network to continue to go about their business even in the case of a break down.

The internet is like one big major highway only instead of millions of cars traveling on it, there are millions of networks and servers all traveling at the same time and trying to get stuff done. Whether they’re moving data, transferring files or just making changes on their pages, they’re all traveling at the same time. What happens when suddenly the network fails? The same thing that would happen to the millions of cars if suddenly the road stopped. The traffic would stop – unless; however, there was a detour so they could keep going.

Network redundancy and failover can step in and be like a road detour. Rather than having to stop what they’re doing, the servers can just switch to another server for help. While many failed servers can be fixed by re-booting, it’s not always this easy. When choosing web-hosting companies, it’s to your advantage to know what they’re capable of in case of system or server failure. You want to be with a company that can offer assistance the instant that trouble starts, not hours or days later.

Network redundancy is important because if one of the disk drives fails, another can pick up the slack without the entire system going down. The disk drive that failed can be quickly replaced with no one knowing the difference. This is what will take place if the host has redundant disk arrays.

Failover servers are often found on more sophisticated web hosts. They’ll pick up the slack if the entire computer crashes before anyone even realizes there’s a problem. All the administrator needs to do is refresh their browser and everything is back to normal. The more knowledge you can gain about network redundancy and failover, the better you’ll be able to know what web hosts have to offer and what kind of service they can provide.