Double-Take Extending Its GeoCluster Offering

Double-Take Software is extending its GeoCluster offering to support failover clustering and the hypervisor-based virtualisation in Windows Server 2008. GeoCluster is a software-based replication solution designed to integrate seamlessly with failover clustering, removing the requirement for shared storage and enabling customers to easily create geographically disparate clusters. 

GeoCluster extends the clustering capabilities provided as part of Windows Server by making it possible to build a failover cluster without the need for shared storage, allowing cluster nodes to be in different physical locations. Removing the requirement for shared storage also eliminates it as a single point of failure for clustered applications, improving the reliability and availability of applications running on Windows Server 2008. By extending the capabilities of Windows Server 2008 failover clustering, available with the Enterprise and Datacentre editions of Windows Server 2008, GeoCluster offers added data protection, enhanced disaster recovery, and provides continual access to data and applications across sites.

“GeoCluster uses the proven data replication capabilities of Double-Take to protect clustered workloads in the same easy, cost-effective way Double-Take protects non-clustered workloads,” said Bob Roudebush, director of solutions engineering at Double-Take Software. “By extending the clustering capabilities in Windows Server, GeoCluster makes high availability clustering not just a local availability tool but also a disaster recovery solution as well.“

The latest release of GeoCluster is a cost-effective complement to the inherent failover clustering capabilities of Windows Server 2008 for mission-critical, high-availability Windows applications. With the launch of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, for example, IT administrators have the ability to seamlessly move virtual machines between Hyper-V hosts using the quick migration feature in combination with failover clustering. This capability comes with every license of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Datacentre editions, along with expanded virtualisation use rights of each of these editions. Adding GeoCluster to this scenario allows organisations to cluster Hyper-V workloads even if they don’t have access to a storage area network. In addition, because GeoCluster makes it easy to build geographically disparate clusters, customers can move virtual machines not just within a data centre but to any node in a cluster, regardless of geographic location.  

“We’ve seen roughly one-third of our customers deploy the clustering and high-availability features of Windows Server 2008 as they use server virtualisation to drive down costs through consolidation and increase IT efficiency of business continuity initiatives,” said Zane Adam, senior director of virtualisation strategy at Microsoft Corp. “Double-Take Software’s GeoCluster integrates into Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V to provide customers with a cost-effective software solution to protect and manage clustered applications across disperse geographies.”