AIS High Availability consists of multiple options:

• AIS Local HA provides server-level load balancing and failure detection plus custom service monitoring through the use of enterprise-class hardware from F5 Networks.
• AIS Global HA is operated from two geographically-diverse data centers (AIS San Diego and AIS Phoenix). It provides DNS-level load balancing and failure detection through the use of enterprise-class hardware from F5 Networks.
• AIS Total HA combines AIS Local HA and AIS Global HA services into an integrated hardware solution designed for quick recovery and business continuity. It leverages the AIS private optical network that runs between the San Diego and Phoenix data centers — providing high-performance, secure connectivity that enables real-time data replication and service delivery from multiple points on the Internet.

High Availability Managed Service delivers:

• State-of-the-art local and global load balancing technology
• High-performance private network between data centers
• Expert engineering and support staff
• Extensive transit and peering network
• Fully monitored and managed service

Monitoring is provided by the AIS Operation and Control Center (OCC), which is manned 24x7x365, ensuring that a team of highly skilled professionals is always available to provide personalized support and to quickly troubleshoot/fix any technical issues that are encountered. The AIS commitment to using a people-based approach is a key differentiator.

These features add up to a turnkey high-availability service that saves money and increases your up-time.

In the most basic configuration, a website (e.g., www.domain.com) is assigned to a pair of high availability load balancers. Each load balancer is located in a separate, fully-autonomous data center.

The High Availabilty devices are configured to direct traffic to the appropriate web server(s) by using DNS and handing out IP addresses when users access the website. The “appropriate” web server can be determined by a number of configurable parameters, such as server availability, request origination, and fastest performance.

For Disaster Recovery applications, the High Availability devices use constant monitoring to determine whether the primary site (or web server) is available. Traffic is directed to the primary site unless a failure is detected, at which point traffic is quickly directed to the secondary site (or server). For users that had been previously directed to the primary (failed) site, subsequent requests are redirected to the secondary site.

All of this traffic direction occurs outside of the client’s colocation footprint and failover may be configured to occur without human intervention. There is no client-side hardware or software required. Support is provided 24x7x365 by Operations Control Centers located in three autonomous data centers.

The AIS Professional Services staff are experts in networking and high availability infrastructure — and they are experienced in local and global load balancing.

Custom High Availability configurations are tailored to client objectives by the AIS Professional Services team, which offers full-service consulting for Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity (DR/BC) planning.

To ensure the solutions conform to best practices, the AIS Professional Services team follows a disciplined methodology based on a four-part Disaster Recovery Methodology: Assess, Design, Implement, and Operate. Each stage in the model represents an important aspect of the overall solution.