Fault tolerance

I have client applications sending messages via TCP to a server application
running on a remote machine. I want to have a second remote machine running
the same server app so that if the first machine is unavailable then clients
can use the second machine. Is there any technology that handles this
seamlessly without the client app having to explicitly change to the second
machine? Does clustering do what I need? Does the technology work for all
IP traffic?

Yes, clustering would provide this functionality but is difficult to set up.
It's also a costly solution for this simple problem. Why not just use a
Try/Catch statement in your code so that if the first server is unreachable it
tries the second?

"Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have client applications sending messages via TCP to a server application
>running on a remote machine. I want to have a second remote machine running
>the same server app so that if the first machine is unavailable then clients
>can use the second machine. Is there any technology that handles this
>seamlessly without the client app having to explicitly change to the second
>machine? Does clustering do what I need? Does the technology work for all IP
>traffic?
>

Thanks Mike. We use fault tolerant clustering for other things so hopefully
there won't be too much to configure. We have lots of client server apps
that need fault tolerance so our company prefers to handle it all at a
higher level rather than implement it in each app that needs it. (Hopefully
I won't be the poor fool who has to set it up!!!)

Also do any modifications need to be made to the clients machines?

"Mike Lowery" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Yes, clustering would provide this functionality but is difficult to set
> up. It's also a costly solution for this simple problem. Why not just use
> a Try/Catch statement in your code so that if the first server is
> unreachable it tries the second?
>
> "Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have client applications sending messages via TCP to a server
>>application running on a remote machine. I want to have a second remote
>>machine running the same server app so that if the first machine is
>>unavailable then clients can use the second machine. Is there any
>>technology that handles this seamlessly without the client app having to
>>explicitly change to the second machine? Does clustering do what I need?
>>Does the technology work for all IP traffic?
>>
>
>

A failure should be transparent to the client (that's the idea.) So no, there
shouldn't be a need for client changes. However, your server app needs to be
"cluster-aware" which will be your biggest challenge.

"Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks Mike. We use fault tolerant clustering for other things so hopefully
> there won't be too much to configure. We have lots of client server apps that
> need fault tolerance so our company prefers to handle it all at a higher level
> rather than implement it in each app that needs it. (Hopefully I won't be the
> poor fool who has to set it up!!!)
>
> Also do any modifications need to be made to the clients machines?
>
> "Mike Lowery" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Yes, clustering would provide this functionality but is difficult to set up.
>> It's also a costly solution for this simple problem. Why not just use a
>> Try/Catch statement in your code so that if the first server is unreachable
>> it tries the second?
>>
>> "Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I have client applications sending messages via TCP to a server application
>>>running on a remote machine. I want to have a second remote machine running
>>>the same server app so that if the first machine is unavailable then clients
>>>can use the second machine. Is there any technology that handles this
>>>seamlessly without the client app having to explicitly change to the second
>>>machine? Does clustering do what I need? Does the technology work for all IP
>>>traffic?
>>>
>>
>>
>
>