High availability software - HA cluster for redundancy of critical applications on Windows and Linux
Evidian SafeKit
30 seconds elevator pitch for SafeKit
- Sam is in charge of critical applications
- Critical applications are not available anymore!
All-in-one high availability
In one software product, SafeKit provides on Windows and Linux:
- load balancing
- synchronous real-time file replication
- automatic application failover
- automatic failback after a server failure
Save costs of network load balancers or dedicated proxy servers, shared disk or replicated SAN storage, enterprise editions of Operating Systems and databases, specific skills to maintain operational a cluster.
A complete solution
SafeKit solves:
- hardware failures (20% of problems), including the complete failure of a computer room,
- software failures (40% of problems), including restart of critical processes,
- and human errors (40% of problems) thanks to its ease of use and its web console.
A generic product
You can implement with the SafeKit product real-time replication and failover of any file directory and service, database, complete Hyper-V or KVM virtual machines, Docker, Podman, K3S, Cloud applications (see the module list).
Zero specific skills
No special computer skills are required to deploy a SafeKit high availability cluster.
Zero hardware extra costs
Forget about shared disks, replicated SAN storage... SafeKit is hardware independent and runs on your existing physical servers, or in virtual machines, or in the cloud.
Zero software extra costs
SafeKit works with the standard editions of Windows and Linux and does not require enterprise editions of databases.
Redundancy at the application level
In this type of solution, only application data are replicated. And only the application is restared in case of failure.
With this solution, restart scripts must be written to restart the application.
We deliver application modules to implement redundancy at the application level. They are preconfigured for well known applications and databases. You can customize them with your own services, data to replicate, application checkers. And you can combine application modules to build advanced multi-level architectures.
This solution is platform agnostic and works with applications inside physical machines, virtual machines, in the Cloud. Any hypervisor is supported (VMware, Hyper-V...).
Redundancy at the virtual machine level
In this type of solution, the full Virtual Machine (VM) is replicated (Application + OS). And the full VM is restarted in case of failure.
The advantage is that there is no restart scripts to write per application and no virtual IP address to define. If you do not know how the application works, this is the best solution.
This solution works with Windows/Hyper-V and Linux/KVM but not with VMware. This is an active/active solution with several virtual machines replicated and restarted between two nodes.
- Solution for a new application (no restart script to write): Windows/Hyper-V, Linux/KVM
More comparison between VM HA vs Application HA
Partners, the success with SafeKit
This platform agnostic solution is ideal for a partner reselling a critical application and who wants to provide a redundancy and high availability option easy to deploy to many customers.
With many references in many countries won by partners, SafeKit has proven to be the easiest solution to implement for redundancy and high availability of building management, video management, access control, SCADA software...
New application (real-time replication and failover)
- Windows mirror (mirror.safe)
- Linux mirror (mirror.safe)
New application (network load balancing and failover)
Database (real-time replication and failover)
- Microsoft SQL Server mirror (sqlserver.safe)
- PostgreSQL mirror (postgresql.safe)
- MySQL mirror (mysql.safe)
- Oracle mirror (oracle.safe)
- MariaDB mirror (sqlserver.safe)
- Firebird mirror (firebird.safe)
Web (network load balancing and failover)
- Apache farm (apache_farm.safe)
- IIS farm (iis_farm.safe)
- NGINX farm (farm.safe)
Full VM or container real-time replication and failover
- Hyper-V mirror (hyperv.safe)
- KVM mirror (kvm.safe)
- Docker mirror (mirror.safe)
- Podman mirror (mirror.safe)
- Kubernetes K3S mirror (k3s.safe)
Amazon AWS
- AWS Mirror Cluster (mirror.safe)
- AWS Farm Cluster (farm.safe)
Google GCP
- GCP Mirror Cluster (mirror.safe)
- GCP Farm Cluster (farm.safe)
Microsoft Azure
- Azure Mirror Cluster (mirror.safe)
- Azure Farm Cluster (farm.safe)
Other clouds
- All Cloud Solutions
- Generic Mirror Cluster (mirror.safe)
- Generic Farm Cluster (farm.safe)
Physical security (real-time replication and failover)
- Milestone XProtect mirror (milestone.safe)
- Nedap AEOS mirror (nedap.safe)
- Genetec SQL Server mirror (sqlserver.safe)
- Bosch AMS mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Bosch BIS mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Bosch BVMS mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Hanwha Vision mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Hanwha Wisenet mirror (hyperv.safe)
Siemens (real-time replication and failover)
- Siemens Siveillance suite mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Siemens Desigo CC mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Siemens Siveillance VMS mirror (SiveillanceVMS.safe)
- Siemens SiPass mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Siemens SIPORT mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7 mirror (hyperv.safe)
- Siemens SIMATIC WinCC mirror (hyperv.safe)
New application (real-time replication and failover)
New application (network load balancing and failover)
Database (real-time replication and failover)
- Microsoft SQL Server mirror
- PostgreSQL mirror
- MySQL mirror
- Oracle mirror
- MariaDB mirror
- Firebird mirror
Web (network load balancing and failover)
Full VM or container real-time replication and failover
Amazon AWS
Google GCP
Microsoft Azure
Other clouds
Physical security (real-time replication and failover)
Siemens (real-time replication and failover)
VM HA with the SafeKit Hyper-V or KVM module | Application HA with SafeKit application modules |
SafeKit inside 2 hypervisors: replication and failover of full VM | SafeKit inside 2 virtual or physical machines: replication and failover at application level |
Replicates more data (App+OS) | Replicates only application data |
Reboot of VM on hypervisor 2 if hypervisor 1 crashes Recovery time depending on the OS reboot VM checker and failover (Virtual Machine is unresponsive, has crashed, or stopped working) |
Quick recovery time with restart of App on OS2 if crash of server 1 Around 1 mn or less (see RTO/RPO here) Application checker and software failover |
Generic solution for any application / OS | Restart scripts to be written in application modules |
Works with Windows/Hyper-V and Linux/KVM but not with VMware | Platform agnostic, works with physical or virtual machines, cloud infrastructure and any hypervisor including VMware |
SafeKit with the Hyper-V module or the KVM module | Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster & VMware HA |
No shared disk - synchronous real-time replication instead with no data loss | Shared disk and specific extenal bay of disk |
Remote sites = no SAN for replication | Remote sites = replicated bays of disk across a SAN |
No specific IT skill to configure the system (with hyperv.safe and kvm.safe) | Specific IT skills to configure the system |
Note that the Hyper-V/SafeKit and KVM/SafeKit solutions are limited to replication and failover of 32 VMs. | Note that the Hyper-V built-in replication does not qualify as a high availability solution. This is because the replication is asynchronous, which can result in data loss during failures, and it lacks automatic failover and failback capabilities. |
Evidian SafeKit mirror cluster with real-time file replication and failover |
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3 products in 1 More info > |
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Very simple configuration More info > |
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Synchronous replication More info > |
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Fully automated failback More info > |
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Replication of any type of data More info > |
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File replication vs disk replication More info > |
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File replication vs shared disk More info > |
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Remote sites and virtual IP address More info > |
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Quorum and split brain More info > |
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Active/active cluster More info > |
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Uniform high availability solution More info > |
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RTO / RPO More info > |
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Evidian SafeKit farm cluster with load balancing and failover |
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No load balancer or dedicated proxy servers or special multicast Ethernet address More info > |
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All clustering features More info > |
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Remote sites and virtual IP address More info > |
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Uniform high availability solution More info > |
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Software clustering vs hardware clustering More info > |
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Shared nothing vs a shared disk cluster More info > |
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Application High Availability vs Full Virtual Machine High Availability More info > |
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High availability vs fault tolerance More info > |
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Synchronous replication vs asynchronous replication More info > |
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Byte-level file replication vs block-level disk replication More info > |
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Heartbeat, failover and quorum to avoid 2 master nodes More info > |
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Virtual IP address primary/secondary, network load balancing, failover More info > |
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To kickstart your journey with SafeKit, begin with the quick installation guides.
Packages (8.2)
- Windows (with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable)
- Windows (without Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable)
- Linux
- Supported OS and last fixes
- Previous 7.5