Everything that Distec supplies helps reduce downtime and is critical to your business. The addition of Avance – the Stratus high availability software solution – to the portfolio has further strengthened Distec’s commitment to quality and uptime.
Reducing unplanned computer downtime utilising Stratus Avance HA Software Solution provided by Distec
Access to your computer systems is taken for granted in today’s automation arena, but failure can be catastrophic and very expensive, both in terms of lost production, waste product and credibility. As part of Distec’s portfolio aimed at reducing unplanned downtime, Stratus Avance software is a new, easy-to-use and affordable solution for small and mid-sized businesses, providing a high-availability computing platform for protection of applications. If you can install and maintain your application on a standard server you can utilise Avance with no additional IT skills required, thus reducing service overheads by as much as 50%, and providing lower total cost of ownership. The implementation of an Avance solution offers cost savings of 30% to 75% over a traditional clustered architecture system.
Stratus Avance software automatically combines two standard Intel/Dell/HP servers into a high-availability solution that includes embedded virtualization – appearing as a single node. Applications run in virtual machines (VMs) that are synchronously mirrored between the servers in real time, providing automatic redundancy. The Avance software solution automatically monitors the underlying server hardware architecture and, should a problem be detected, isolates the fault and seamlessly migrates VMs to the secondary node if required. During this transition, the applications continue to run without interruption, data loss or shutdown.
Error notification is automatically sent to the end user, Stratus and Distec, so a planned recovery can be organised without interrupting production. There are several automated reporting tools to ensure the correct people are notified, resulting in prompt resolution to hardware issues. Avance software automatically re-synchronizes the two nodes once a problem is resolved, without the need for any additional IT skills.
The servers can be located in the same room or up to 3 miles apart, conditional on a suitable direct Ethernet connection being established. A secondary network provides connectivity to the manufacturing site, enabling all periphery devices to see the pair of servers as a single node with a single address. There is no need for expensive additional SAN’s as all the VM and data are stored on both servers in real time.
The advantages at a glance
- Automatic uptime assurance of more than 99.99%
- Built in Virtualisation
- Around the Clock protection for critical applications
- Support of Windows and Linux VM’s
- Down Time Prevention
System administration of cluster or redundant systems can be complex and time consuming. However the administration of Avance software is simple and straightforward, requiring no specialized knowledge. With a web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, anyone with permission can follow the graphical user interface without difficulty.
Whilst Avance provides a resilient server platform, it should not be considered in isolation. ‘Blue screen’ and ‘data loss’ are frequently attributable to mains related transients. At the same time these transients expose valuable equipment to electrical stress which can lead the premature failure. Distec’s recent partnership with Assured Power Associates expands their already comprehensive portfolio (Microsoft, Elo, Nexcom, Red Lion and others), further enhancing the 
Stratus Avance and workstation offering with the addition of UPS systems from Reillo and UPS application support. If the mains outage is for a long period, arrangements can be made for the UPS to trigger an orderly shutdown of equipment, resulting in faster controlled recovery and no data loss, with alarms provided via SNMP options.
Our UPS system can be smaller dedicated units or scaled up to support the complete data centre as an engineered solution.
Distec can assist in the best practices for the total solution, utilising other technologies available to increase the uptime of the solution. Higher temperatures and greater levels of vibration could necessitate the use of fanless embedded computer whilst the environment may lend itself to totally sealed IP65/7 workstation removing the need for additional enclosures. Ethernet connectivity to the servers can be provided by ring/mesh topologies offering various data paths which are self healing.
At Distec we want you to be satisfied with your investment over the long term, which means that you will obtain maximum benefit from your investment with us.
