Common services tier options to increase availability

To increase the availability of the common services tier, you can implement IBM® WebSphere® Application Server clustering or an active-passive topology.

In a WebSphere Application Server cluster, you can implement horizontal clustering, where members of the cluster reside on multiple host computers. If the primary node fails, the workload is routed to other nodes in the cluster. You configure backup web servers or load balancers to take over if the primary server fails.

In an active-passive topology, you install the services tier on both an active server and a passive server and cluster the computers by using high availability software. If the active server fails, the high availability software restarts services on the passive server.