Common Hardware Components

All SIOS Protection Suite configurations share these common components as illustrated in the diagram below:

1. Server Groups. The basis for the fault resilience provided by SIOS Protection Suite is clustered Windows servers. The servers, also referred to as SIOS Protection Suite nodes, do not have to be the same hardware platform.

2. Communication paths for heartbeat. It is strongly recommended that each pair of servers in the group share at least two communication paths (comm paths), although only one is required. To avoid unnecessary failover due to communication failure, you should configure your redundant comm paths using different protocols and communication media, for example TCP/IP (or socket). SIOS Protection Suite uses the comm paths to coordinate resource availability for the fault-detection heartbeat, a periodic message between nodes and for switchover of resources. (See Overview of Communication Paths.)

3. Shared data resources. SIOS Protection Suite can recover and restore shared or mirrored data, applications and communication resources. SIOS Protection Suite controls access at the volume (drive letter) level. In case of a server failure, SIOS Protection Suite automatically switches availability of protected resources to an active server. Peripheral devices that are to be shared between systems must be packaged in external peripheral cabinets. See the Configuring Your Storage topic for information to help you configure your shared storage.

4. Shared communication for user connections. SIOS Protection Suite can also automatically manage the switchover of user communication resources, such as IP addresses, computer alias names and file share lists. Switchover of communication resources allows users to connect using their normal paths.