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Databases & SQL vocabulary · Backup, Replication and Scaling

Failover

Meaning in databases & SQL, with examples

/ˈfeɪloʊvər/nounCommon term

In databases & SQL, failover means: Switching work from a failed primary database server to a standby or replica so that the application can keep running.

In Turkish: yük devretme, devralma, failover

How it is used

Failover can be automatic or manual. A planned, controlled move is often called a switchover. People 'fail over to the standby' (verb, two words) and test failover regularly. After failover, applications must reconnect, and a few seconds of errors are normal.

Example sentences

  1. The primary crashed at 3 a.m. and automatic failover completed in 40 seconds.

  2. We run a failover test every quarter to make sure the standby really works.

Common collocations

  • automatic failover
  • fail over to the standby
  • failover test
  • manual failover
  • high availabilityDesigning a database system so that it keeps working with very little downtime, even if a server, disk or data center fails.
  • replicationKeeping copies of the same database on several servers by sending every change from one server to the others, for safety and to share the load.
  • read replicaA copy of a database that receives changes from the main server and is used only for read queries, taking load off the primary.
  • backupA copy of a database saved at a certain moment so that the data can be brought back after a failure, a mistake or an attack.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Backup, Replication and Scaling

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