The deployment of a cluster with byte-level file replication as implemented by SafeKit is much more simple than a cluster with block-level disk replication. The following table explains why.
Simplicity of byte-level file replication vs block-level disk replication |
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| Architecture |
Cluster with byte-level file replication
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Cluster with block-level disk replication
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| Product | SafeKit on Windows Linux | Disks replication products |
| Application data organization | 0 impact on application data organization with SafeKit. Just define directories to replicate in real-time. Even directories inside the system disk can be replicated. |
Impact on application data organization. All data to recover must be localized in a special replicated disk. Data in the system disk cannot be replicated. |
| Data replication | Synchronous byte-level file replication Replication at the file operation level. Replicate file modification operations generated by application activity : no meta data are replicated. Only data modified in files are replicated, not entired files (byte-level file replication). Synchronous replication to avoid data loss on failure. |
Block level disk replication. Replicate all data modified inside a replicated disk. Application data plus meta data are replicated. For instance, last access time on a file is replicated (last access time is modified each time the file is read). |
| Complexity of deployment | No - install a software on 2 servers | Yes - require specific IT skills to configure OS and replicated disk |
| Failover | Just restart the application on the secondary server | Remount the file system on the replicated disk. Pass the recovery procedure on the file system. And then restart the application |
| Failback | Automatic failback. Resynchronization of data on the secondary server without stopping the application on the primary server. No application failover while data are not resynchronized. Automatic failover and automatic failback video |
All products are not at the same level of features |
| Split brain and quorum | Application executed on a single server after a network isolation and repair (split brain). Coherency of data after a split brain. No need of a third machine or a quorum disk or a special hearbeat line for split brain. Cluster quorum video : no quorum server and no quorum disk |
All products are not at the same level of features |
| Suited for | Software editors which want to add a simple high availabity to their application | Enterprise with IT skills |
More information on a byte-level file replication cluster on Windows and Linux here.
