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High availability is important to keep your cloud server up and running. Make sure to ponder over these points to test your cloud provider on HA.) The availability of the cloud is often the topmost concern in cloud computing. But why does it matter? This is because it gives you access to your business-critical data and applications. If your cloud is not available, you won’t be any longer able to access your apps being available through the cloud. Frankly speaking, unavailability means that cloud solutions don’t exist for your business. After all, High Availability is the capacity and the ability of the system to provide uninterrupted services. The users require the system to be operating 24/7 and therefore, different techniques and technologies required to be implemented. Cloud computing is vulnerable to failures which stress the need to take care of user’s availability. Different techniques can be incorporated to enhance system availability. It goes without saying that interrupted operations lead to the loss of infrastructure on any given day. It directly impacts the operations, with users not being able to retrieve mission-critical data or apps. Based on the size and structure of your business, the cost of lost productivity and missed business opportunities could lead to a greater loss.  Simply put, the more important your cloud-based apps and data are to your business; the more crucial it is to have a cloud solution with high availability. Therefore, whether you’re looking to establish your own infrastructure or use a cloud service provider, availability will always be a topmost priority. What to Consider When it Comes to High Availability in Cloud An efficient cloud service vendor will provide you an accurate estimate of their availability when you ask them. Despite that, if you still want to get a close idea of what a cloud service provider’s uptime for their cloud service will be, consider the points given below. Redundant: Cloud platforms made for disaster recovery often have a high level of system redundancy, often by having one standby way to keep your apps and data up and running. This ensures total peace of mind as extra support can be used if one goes offline for upgrades or maintenance. Cloud Security: Security of the server is another important factor to look for. It also affects the overall uptime of a server. After all, modern businesses are plagued by several threats like hacking. These cyber-attacks can hinder cloud services once they make an inroad to the system. Make sure the server is guarded by multiple firewalls and antivirus programs as well. Tier IV Data Centres. The data centre that accommodates your cloud vendor’s servers can also have a big impact on availability. For example, a Tier I data centre is less likely to have much redundancy built in to minimize disruptions. Tier IV data centres have built-in backup systems and redundancy to withstand severe natural disasters. So these are the things that ensure high availability in cloud computing. What do you think? Please let us know by commenting below. Post navigationSkip to main content This browser is no longer supported. Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support. High availability in Azure public MECAzure public multi-access edge compute (MEC) is a great platform for hosting applications at the edge and can make them more responsive, but it doesn't currently support high availability features. This article describes how to deploy workloads in active/standby mode to achieve high availability and disaster recovery. Apache®, Apache Ignite, Ignite, and the flame logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. No endorsement by The Apache Software Foundation is implied by the use of these marks. ArchitectureDownload a Visio file of this architecture. Workflow
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AlternativesAzure backup and disaster recovery, which provides Azure Site Recovery and backup features:
This approach costs less than the one described previously because there are no idle resources. This alternative is suitable only for applications that allow for higher RTOs. Note Azure backup and disaster recovery for Azure public MEC currently supports only virtual machines. Scenario detailsPotential use casesUse this architecture when you want to deploy workloads in active/standby mode to achieve high availability and disaster recovery. This scenario is ideal for the telecommunications industry. ConsiderationsThese considerations implement the pillars of the Azure Well-Architected Framework, which is a set of guiding tenets that can be used to improve the quality of a workload. For more information, see Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework. PerformanceAzure public MEC is designed to host latency-critical applications. Because failover to a secondary region increases the latency of the workloads, it might not provide the same level of performance. Depending on the application and its sensitivity to this increased latency, you need to decide which of the services, if any, should fail over to the region. DatabasesData replication and backup are important when you rely on database failovers. Most Azure PaaS services have built-in support for geo-replication and creating read replicas across regions and geographies. Note Azure public MEC doesn't currently support PaaS services like SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Database for MySQL, or Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Third-party offerings like Couchbase, MongoDB, and Apache Cassandra can provide infrastructure as a service (IaaS) services that support geo-replication. Traffic ManagerFailover optionsTraffic Manager supports multiple routing methods: performance, geographic, priority, and more. To best support low latency applications, dynamically send data to the region / Azure public MEC that's closest to the user. Performance routing isn't currently supported on Azure public MEC. The next best option is to statically prioritize the best location for an application. For a globally distributed application that has workloads distributed across multiple Azure public MECs and regions, use a nested routing method. Use geographic routing to split traffic to the correct region, and then use priority routing to further split the traffic. FailbackAfter the workloads in Azure public MEC are back up, Traffic Manager probes detect that it can take requests and automatically reroute traffic back to Azure public MEC. Cost optimizationCost optimization is about looking at ways to reduce unnecessary expenses and improve operational efficiencies. For more information, see Overview of the cost optimization pillar. Azure public MEC is primarily used for low latency and real-time computation scenarios. Data is processed by the compute instances that run in Azure public MEC. This architecture uses active/standby with a hot standby. That is, workloads in the secondary region aren't used unless there's a failover. This approach to deploying workloads as a standby incurs Azure deployment costs even though the workloads aren't used. For more information about pricing:
For information about creating a cost-effective workload, see Overview of the cost optimization pillar in the Azure Well-Architected Framework documentation. ContributorsThis article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors. Principal author:
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FeedbackSubmit and view feedback for Which formula is used to determine a cloud providers availability percentage?The formula for availability is equivalent to the uptime divided by the total time, where the total time is uptime plus downtime.
Which of the following is a network device that is deployed in the cloud to protect against unwanted access to a private network?A firewall is software or firmware that prevents unauthorized access to a network. It inspects incoming and outgoing traffic using a set of rules to identify and block threats.
Which of the following is a network virtualization solution provided by Microsoft?Hyper-V is Microsoft's hardware virtualization product. It lets you create and run a software version of a computer, called a virtual machine. Each virtual machine acts like a complete computer, running an operating system and programs.
What is the on premises cloud based software tool that sits between an organization and a cloud service provider called?A cloud access security broker (CASB) is a software tool or service that sits between an organization's on-premises infrastructure and a cloud provider's infrastructure.
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