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CompTIA Security+ 3.4
InteractiveSecurityFree

Active/Active or Active/Passive?

Is each cluster active/active or active/passive? Land five in a row.

⚑ Complete this interactive to capture a CTF flag worth 5 points.

About this interactive

A cluster's nodes monitor each other, and when one goes offline its connections fail over to another. Active/active: every node is active and shares the load, so it does not matter which one a client reaches. It is often the ideal. Active/passive: everything goes to the active node. The passive node keeps updating and takes over if the active one goes down. Database servers often run this way, because two servers changing data at the same time contend with each other. Primary and secondary (and the older master and slave) mean much the same, and can also say which node is usually live. The secondary can be smaller, beefed up only if it has to carry the load. Failing over to a patched passive copy lets you maintain a database with no downtime.

What you'll learn

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+
3.4 Explain the importance of resilience and recovery in security architecture.

Key terms

Active/Active Node
A cluster configuration where all nodes simultaneously handle traffic, distributing the load across the cluster.
Active/Passive Node
A cluster configuration where one node actively handles traffic while a standby node remains idle and takes over only if the active node fails.
Server Clustering
A configuration in which multiple servers are grouped to act as one system, enabling load distribution and automatic failover when a node fails.
Failover
The automatic switching to a redundant system or component when the primary one fails.

Topics

Interactive Streak Sort

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