Critical enterprise applications are often viewed as candidates for high availability (HA) operations. For many IT staff this translates into continuous 24/7 operations which may be neither needed nor feasible. When implementing high availability for key applications, one of the primary considerations is to determine what the user community requires from the application. Based on real business needs, the most cost effective implementation can be designed. Key considerations include:
- When the application is in use.
- Cost to the enterprise for an application outage.
- Time to recover options.
- Client connectivity.
- Support infrastructure.
Not all applications will need continuous availability, and many may do well with “cold” backup equipment. Implement HA in a rational and cost-effective manner by understanding the business requirements and the HA options.