Building Resilient Systems: High Availability vs. Disaster Recovery

Practically speaking, high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) are two distinct elements of resilience that make up a greater whole. The key differentiating factor is that one is pre-emptive, while the other is reactive. While high availability focuses on preventing downtime, disaster recovery is a reactive process intended to restore normal operations as quickly as possible following a significant failure. It presumes disruptions will happen and prepares for swift recovery when needed. Together, they form a comprehensive approach to IT service continuity management. High availability – pre-empting disruption High availability refers to a system's ability to remain operational and…