Automatic System Reconfiguration (ASR)

In addition to evaluating a purely highly available (HA) solution, you should consider deploying hardware that is capable of ASR.

ASR is a process by which hardware failure related downtime can be minimized. If a server is capable of ASR, it is possible that individual component failures in the hardware result in only minimal downtime. ASR enables the server to reboot itself and configure the failed components out of operation until they can be replaced. The downside is that a failed component that is taken out of service could result in a less performing system. For example, a CPU failure could result in a machine rebooting with fewer CPUs available. A system I/O board or chip failure could result in system with diminished or alternative I/O paths in use.

Different Sun SPARC systems support very different levels of ASR. Some systems support no ASR, while others support very high levels. As a general rule, the more ASR capabilities a server has, the more it costs. In the absence of high availability software, choose machines with a significant amount of hardware redundancy and ASR capability for your data stores, assuming that it is not cost prohibitive.