Redundancy

How it is used

A key design word: engineers build in, add and test redundancy, and talk about redundant links, redundant power supplies and having no single point of failure. Redundancy only helps if failover actually works, so it should be tested regularly.

Example sentences

1. The site has full redundancy: two routers, two firewalls and two ISPs.

2. We lost the whole branch because the redundant link ran through the same duct as the main one.

Common collocations

• build in redundancy
• redundant link
• redundant power supply
• full redundancy
• single point of failure

Related terms

• failoverAutomatic switching to a backup device, link or system when the main one fails, so that the service continues with little or no interruption.
• downtimeThe total time during which a system, link or service is not available, whether because of a fault or because of planned work.
• backboneThe high-capacity core part of a network that connects smaller networks, sites or cities and carries most of the traffic between them.
• spanning tree protocolA protocol that stops switches from forming loops by blocking extra paths between them, and opens a blocked path again if an active link fails.
• load balancerA device or service that spreads incoming traffic across several servers, so that no single server is overloaded and the service stays available if one server fails.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• redundancy · Software Engineering
• redundancy · Cloud Computing & DevOps
• redundancy · Human Resources

More terms: Bandwidth, Latency and Reliability

• bandwidth
• latency
• throughput
• packet loss
• jitter
• QoS
• bottleneck
• congestion
• round-trip time