Permabit High Availability (HA) Option
Always Available Information Access
Information that resides in an archive, in many cases, is the last and final copy of that data. The fact that the information is being retained means that it may be needed at some point – any point – in the future. That is where the data accessibility challenge arises. Information is seldom, if ever, accessed but when it needs to be retrieved for eDiscovery for example, it must be instantly available. System downtime is not an option.
Figure 1. Permabit’s High Availability pairs access nodes to ensures accessiblity to data even if an access node fails.
The High Availability (HA) option delivers a fault–tolerant configuration by joining two access nodes in a configuration. Rather than waiting for a failover with one node active and the other passive, both nodes share the workload. One node handles incoming and outgoing archive transactions, while the second maintains an active journal of those transactions. Should the primary node fail, the secondary node assumes control and continues writing information seamlessly without user intervention and more importantly without data loss. HA provides an efficient utilization of system resources while protecting your information.
The Permabit Enterprise Archive™ storage grid with the revolutionary patented RAIN–EC technology is designed with the ability to recover from any number of failures that simultaneously affect two different Storage Modules. The built–in Storage Module and RAIN–EC protection combines with the HA module to deliver full redundant protection for the Access Modules and Storage Modules.
Permabit Features
- High Availability: Pairing of access nodes with the HA Option ensures data accessibility is always available even if an access node were to fail.
- Built–in: RAIN–EC is a standard feature in the Enterprise Archive product line. There are no additional licenses, software, or hardware to purchase.
- Simultaneous Failure Recovery: RAIN–EC can survive multiple simultaneous failures of storage nodes (multiple drives, power, CPU, memory, etc.) without data loss.
Key Benefits
- Always available data access even if an access node were to fail.
- Seamless failover in the event of a node failure.
- No downtime needed to replace failed access nodes.
The Permabit Advantage
| The Permabit Way | The Other Way |
|---|---|
| High Availability — Provides constant access to data even if an access node fails. | Single Point of Failure — Without HA capabilities, data cannot be accessed if a system component fails. |
| RAIN–EC — Can survive multiple simultaneous failures within storage nodes with zero data loss. | RAID — Cannot survive multiple concurrent storage node failures. |
| Zero Downtime — Replace access nodes or storage nodes without ever having to take system offline. | System Downtime — Component replacements require systems to be taken offline resulting in no access to data. |