Overview

VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) is a robust feature designed to provide continuous availability for virtual machines in the event of hardware failures. By creating a live shadow instance of a virtual machine on a separate host, vSphere FT ensures that, in case of a host failure, the secondary instance seamlessly takes over without any interruption, thereby eliminating downtime and preventing data loss. This capability is crucial for mission-critical applications that demand high availability and reliability.

Features and Capabilities

• Continuous Availability: vSphere FT maintains an identical copy of the primary virtual machine on a different host. In the event of a hardware failure, the secondary VM instantly takes over, ensuring uninterrupted service.
• Zero Downtime and Data Loss: The failover process is seamless, with no downtime or data loss, preserving active network connections and transactions.
• Simplified Management: Integration with VMware vCenter Server allows for easy configuration and monitoring of FT-protected virtual machines, streamlining management tasks.
• Scalability: Supports up to 4 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 64 GB of memory, accommodating a wide range of applications and workloads.
• Compatibility: Works seamlessly with other VMware features such as vMotion and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), enabling load balancing and maintenance without disrupting protected workloads.
• Resource Coordination: Utilizes efficient resource allocation to ensure that both primary and secondary VMs have synchronized states, maintaining consistency and reliability.
• Automatic Failover and Recovery: In the event of a failure, vSphere FT automatically triggers failover to the secondary VM and initiates the creation of a new secondary VM to restore redundancy, all without manual intervention.
• Network Transparency: Preserves the virtual machine's network identity and connections during failover, ensuring continuous accessibility and minimizing disruption to users.