The latest 14.2 TPP for WhatsUp includes a new feature we are very excited about releasing in full form, a Failover solution that allows uninterrupted polling of your devices in the event of power outages, failed disk drives and other unforeseeable problems.

I am posting this thread to offer some workflows you might want to try out to get a feel for Failover in WUG, and as a place for TPP users to post any questions or issues they might have in regards to Failover in WUG. 

First, an overview of the feature:

-         Revolves around a Primary and Secondary installation of WUG, with polling automatically switching from primary to Secondary in the event of a service failure.

-         Both installations use a centralized database backend, either located on a third machine separate from WUG or co-located with the Secondary WUG installation.

-         WUG services can be monitored for failures using an “Any” or “All” selection (with multiple selections available, this allows WUG to continue polling on the Primary installation unless All selected services are down or if Any of the selected services fail).

-         Ability to manually switch polling within the Failover console for maintenance work on the Primary machine.

-         New Failover Alert Center threshold, which can notify you when a Failover event has occurred.

The installers for WUG with Failover are unique, as is the licensing applied to the Failover WUG installations.  To obtain a Failover version of the 14.2 TPP please see the following link:

http://preview.ipswitch.com/WhatsUpGold14_2/

We are eagerly awaiting your feedback for the following scenarios:

-         Installing WhatsUp with Failover:

• Choosing the scenario that is right for you
• Installing the Primary and Secondary nodes
• Utilizing the Failover deployment guide
• Licensing of Failover with WUG

-         Using WUG with Failover

• Configuring the Failover console for the first time
• Setting credentials for your WUG devices
• Choosing the monitored services in WhatsUp
• Using the Set Active feature to manually switch polling

-         Handling of Failover events

• Secondary device taking over for Primary
• Efficiency of default value for Failover duration
• Configuring the Failover Alert Center threshold
• Receiving notifications for Failover events through Alert Center
• Format and content of Alert Center messages
• Returning polling to Primary device

-         Reporting on data collected during Failover

• Problems with graphs or reports when reporting on data collected during Failover polling
• Logging in to the web server on the Secondary device to view reports
• Using IIS on primary and/or Secondary WUG in lieu of the included web server

-         Usability of Failover and the Failover console/setup

• How intuitive is the Failover installation workflow?
• Any issues configuring the Failover console for the first time?
• Sources of confusion in any facet of Failover.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and input into Failover in the 14.2 TPP.  Feel free to post new topics for specific questions or issues you may have, or for new ideas or features you would like to see incorporated into Failover in future releases of WhatsUp Gold.

J.J. Henline,

QA Engineer – WhatsUp Gold