WAN clustering

The goal of WAN clustering is to support enterprise business continuity by providing location-independent load balancing and failover. WAN clustering can be used for just about any computing resource, including mainframes, file servers and software application stacks.

The biggest challenge in WAN clustering is to make sure that system states and their associated data are concurrent at multiple locations. Two advancements have helped administrators meet this challenge -- faster wide area network (WAN connection speeds and the ability to create and manage a clustered resource through a single virtualized master identity.

See also: cluster computing, high availability, five 9s

Learn more about Branch office network design

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know. Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com

More resources from around the web: - Jeff Boles, senior analyst with Taneja Group, discusses WAN clustering in this Q&A. - Learn more about SAP application-level clustering for business continuity.

FILE EXTENSION AND FILE FORMAT LIST File Extension and File Format List: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

RELATED CONTENT Cisco's next-gen ISR branch office routers deliver video, horsepower The new-generation integrated services routers (ISRs) from Cisco offer more services, more speed and full video processing. Centralization, smaller budgets drive demand for managed WAN services To reduce costs, improve efficiencies and cope with reduced staff, enterprises are giving some serious attention to managed WAN services. FTP accelerator may be more of a quick than long-term fix As transferring large files becomes a top challenge, companies look for a quick way to speed the transfer of files. For many, FTP accelerators are an...