New feature: introducing built-in failover

We’ve made it easier for customers to ensure maximum uptime and stability.

With our new built-in failover feature, you can make your ThinkAutomation implementation higher reliability than ever before.

???What is built-in failover?

Built-in failover means that you can ensure 24/7 availability of your ThinkAutomation service – without the expected extra legwork.

Previously, ThinkAutomation failover was only possible through either a managed service, or through self-implementation of the necessary load balancers and scripts. We’ve changed the game.

Now, you can simply have two ThinkAutomation servers. If the main one dies, the second server will pick up where it left off.

?? How does it work?

Built-in failover is now available as an option within ThinkAutomation Pro. You can configure your ThinkAutomation professional edition to act as a failover server for another ThinkAutomation instance. If the main ThinkAutomation server goes offline, the failover server takes over message processing until the main server is back online.

To break this down:

• The failover ThinkAutomation server connects to the main ThinkAutomation server every few seconds to verify status
• If the main server cannot be reached (after a couple of retries) the failover server restores all current solution and global settings from the message store database backup
• The failover server starts processing
• Once the main server comes back online, the failover server stops processing and reverts to its waiting state
• During failover, you can use the ThinkAutomation studio to connect to the failover server
• You can then view processing status and the message store, but won’t be able to make changes to any settings

For the technical details, head to our support files:?https://support.thinkautomation.com/#configuring-a-failover-server

???A handy diagram

??? What are the benefits?

Having built-in failover means that you can:

• Gain an extra defence against unplanned, disruptive downtime
• Reduce (or even remove altogether) the impact of a failure on your internal operations or on your customers/users
• Protect databases and the information stored within
• Keep data flowing, messages processed, and automations running 24/7/365

??? How much does it cost?

Built-in failover requires two seats of a Pro or Enterprise account. (The feature isn’t included in our lighter-weight Basic and Standard plans.)

?? Available now

Built-in failover is ready and available for you to take advantage of now. Need a helping hand? Drop us a message or give us a call and we can help set up a fault-tolerant ThinkAutomation implementation with failover.

?Useful links

• ThinkAutomation pricing plans
• On-premises deployment
• ThinkAutomation help files
• ThinkAutomation community support
• [Article] ELI5: what is failover?