What is Hot Standby?

Hot standby is a method for making sure that your essential business systems continue to work, uninterrupted, when one or more of its hardware components fail. For example, if your server’s hard drive stopped working, a system equipped with hot standby would instantly recover with no system downtime.

How Does Hot Standby Work?

Hot standby works by running two identical systems in parallel. For example, let’s say your company relies on a company-wide server. If you have it set up with hot standby, at any given moment, two identical sets of hardware — a primary and secondary — will store and manage your company data. If at any time something goes wrong with your primary system, the secondary will instantly step in.

Unlike a simple data backup, no data restore, or manual reconfiguration would be required. The standby system instantly activates with zero disruption to the activities upon which your systems rely.

What Are Advantages of Hot Standby?

Advantages of Hot Standby

Equipping a network server or similar IT asset with hot standby offers your company a few distinct advantages:

• Enhanced service reliability: Hot standby permits your system to function with zero or minimal downtime. If you rely heavily on a given system, this feature delivers peace of mind that you can depend on its reliable function.
• Improved system performance: A redundant system allows your IT team to perform regular, minimally disruptive maintenance. This can often mean enhanced system performance, which in turn supports your team’s productivity.
• Lowered risk: At the end of the day, hot standby protects you from unexpected hardware failures that can significantly impact your bottom line. Hot standby reduces your exposure to risk.

What Type of Company Benefits from Hot Standby?

Hot Standby is a powerful asset for any company whose profitability depends on the uninterrupted function of its systems and the reliability of its data. If you want the maximum possible system uptime, hot standby can make that happen.