?? Redundant Computers in Windows XP -- ONLY a dream???

  • Thread starter Thread starter DC
  • Start date Start date
D

DC

Hi folks,

If I have two computer of same hardware configuration, is it at all
possible that I can maintain a redundant system in Windows XP.

That means computer 1 and computer 2. Usually I only work on computer
1, but when computer 1 fails , I could use computer 2, all the files
remain nearly identical .

Is if possible , I do not want Ghost sort of back up and restore which
has relevance in terms of backup timing and the down time.

I can let both computers running in order to make a near 100% identical
sytem to switched to ???

I was told, linux can do that !

JBH-HK
 
In
DC said:
Hi folks,

If I have two computer of same hardware configuration, is it at all
possible that I can maintain a redundant system in Windows XP.

That means computer 1 and computer 2. Usually I only work on computer
1, but when computer 1 fails , I could use computer 2, all the files
remain nearly identical .

Is if possible , I do not want Ghost sort of back up and restore which
has relevance in terms of backup timing and the down time.

I can let both computers running in order to make a near 100%
identical sytem to switched to ???

I was told, linux can do that !

JBH-HK
Click to expand...

You need something like Ghost or Acronis if you want to clone a workstation.
Don't know what your "realtime" options are in that regard. For servers,
there's stuff like DoubleTake....

Another option would be to use a server to store your data, and store all
your files on it - and make the application/OS build on each workstation
100% identical. You could get a NAS box, SnapServer, Buffalo Linkstation,
etc....

Nothing is a replacement for backups, howeve.r
 
DC said:
Hi folks,

If I have two computer of same hardware configuration, is it at all
possible that I can maintain a redundant system in Windows XP.

That means computer 1 and computer 2. Usually I only work on computer
1, but when computer 1 fails , I could use computer 2, all the files
remain nearly identical .

Is if possible , I do not want Ghost sort of back up and restore which
has relevance in terms of backup timing and the down time.

I can let both computers running in order to make a near 100% identical
sytem to switched to ???

I was told, linux can do that !

JBH-HK
Click to expand...

Windows Server supports redundancy but not Windows XP. If you want to have
a second machine simply waiting for the primary machine to fail, Linux is
probably your best bet, though I have never encountered real-time redundant
Linus workstations configured this way.

carl
 
DC said:
Hi folks,

If I have two computer of same hardware configuration, is it at all
possible that I can maintain a redundant system in Windows XP.

That means computer 1 and computer 2. Usually I only work on computer
1, but when computer 1 fails , I could use computer 2, all the files
remain nearly identical .

Is if possible , I do not want Ghost sort of back up and restore which
has relevance in terms of backup timing and the down time.

I can let both computers running in order to make a near 100% identical
sytem to switched to ???

I was told, linux can do that !

JBH-HK
Click to expand...

There are a few ways to do what you want but I'd do it the easy way. Buy a
RAID card and a second hard drive. Mirror your original drive (NOT stripe).
 
Alan said:
There are a few ways to do what you want but I'd do it the easy way.
Buy a RAID card and a second hard drive. Mirror your original drive
(NOT stripe).
Click to expand...



That provides redundancy of the hard drive, but not the rest of the
computer. He's looking for an entire extra redundant computer, so if any
part of the primary fails, he can use the backup computer.

If there's a way to do this in Windows XP, I don't know one.
 
Ken Blake said:
That provides redundancy of the hard drive, but not the rest of the
computer. He's looking for an entire extra redundant computer, so if any
part of the primary fails, he can use the backup computer.

If there's a way to do this in Windows XP, I don't know one.
Click to expand...

Yes, I thought it was an easier way to back up that computer- I've not heard
of any way to clone the complete thing. But copying the hard drive in this
way it could be put in a caddy then transferred to the second machine if
needed. But if Windows is on it would need to be matched motherboard,
graphics etc........
 
Alan said:
Yes, I thought it was an easier way to back up that computer- I've not heard
of any way to clone the complete thing. But copying the hard drive in this
way it could be put in a caddy then transferred to the second machine if
needed. But if Windows is on it would need to be matched motherboard,
graphics etc........
Click to expand...

During the days when computers were less reliable, we would
be installing duplicate systems, the same in all respects. The
OS and apps would be cloned from one to the other. Information,
data, etc., files would be backed from the working system to
the standby (or backup) system by the operator, using LapLink,
for instance, and later through the local network. Maybe 5% of
the time, the standby system would have to be updated and started
in the event the working system went down (or into maintenance).
But with the price of computers being what they are today and
networking, just having a data server should suffice.
 
DC said:
Hi folks,

If I have two computer of same hardware configuration, is it at all
possible that I can maintain a redundant system in Windows XP.

That means computer 1 and computer 2. Usually I only work on computer
1, but when computer 1 fails , I could use computer 2, all the files
remain nearly identical .

Is if possible , I do not want Ghost sort of back up and restore which
has relevance in terms of backup timing and the down time.

I can let both computers running in order to make a near 100%
identical sytem to switched to ???

I was told, linux can do that !

JBH-HK
Click to expand...

There is software to do this with servers but I don't know of any that run
on XP. The software is very expensive in any case and not practical. This
would protect you from hardware failure but not malware. The most likely
cause of down time on computer 1 would be OS corruption due to malware. If
you had real time redundancy then computer 2 would be corrupted at the same
time.

Kerry
 
Back
Top