Failover is a mechanism with the capacity to automatically switch from a primary installation of WhatsUp Gold to a standby WhatsUp system when the primary system is not functioning normally. Failover differs from switchover, because it is an automatic switch, whereas switchover requires that a network administrator manually make the switch. The WhatsUp Gold Failover Manager reduces costly downtime by automatically taking action in the event of a primary system failure.

The Failover Manager utilizes user-configurable criteria to determine a failed state. You can choose to have the primary system go down if all services are disabled, or if any specified service is disabled. For example, if you select all services, the services used by WhatsUp Gold must go down on the primary server for the secondary system to take over. If you select only the Polling Engine and Web Server, and both are disabled on the primary system for any reason, the secondary system takes over WhatsUp Gold network management duties until the primary system is restored.

Note: Data redundancy occurs when the primary system and/or secondary systems write data to two or more locations for backup and data recovery. In WhatsUp Gold's Failover Manager, data from either the primary or secondary system is written to one database. To increase your network's complete coverage and protect data, make sure to schedule regular backups or take other measures to protect and save data on the system hosting the WhatsUp Gold database.