Backup PCs on a Network

[whitenight]

I have 3 computers setup on a small network, Computer A is the master computer and Computer's B and C are backups to A in the event that A goes down. Now how do I setup Computers B and C to automatically take over for A in the event that it goes down...obviously Computer B will be first in the pecking order to take over in the event of A's failure, thanks

 

[HillJack]

It really depends on what these 3 PC's do.

There is only clustering and network load balancing that I am aware of. But again, it depends on what these PC's do as both clustering and NLB have "different" usage scenarios.

 

[whitenight]

well first off, all three PC's are running CITECT Scada (an industrial automation application) PC 1 is the primary machine, while PC's 2 and 3 are to be setup as backups in case PC 1 goes down, currently all three can communicate wiith each other but are not currently setup in a primary/backup configuration

 

[DelJo63]

IBM Clusters have a technique of even taking over the IP address of the failing system.
This allows inbound traffic to lose at most only one message and the retry will go
to the backup system.

Clustered systems run duplication programs; eg if systemA has programs{a1,b1,c1,...}
then the shadow programs on systemB are {a2,b2,c2,...} so that when the traffic
is redirected, the required services are already primed to receive that traffic.

The 'hot-backup' implementation causes traffic and processing in a round-robin
technique so that the loss of systemA is a non-issue.

The Small Business or Home user can not get to this level of duplication without
mortgaging the farm, but if you have a domain controller environment, some
smart code could force DHCP to reassign IP address.

IMO, that's about as far as PC clusters could go.