Everything You Need to Know About Network Redundancy

Reliable networks have become very important for businesses. Businesses are using their networks for accessing cloud and corporate resources. Most companies are using their networks for delivering services and products to their clients and customers.

Network outages are mostly caused by equipment failures and human errors. System downtime will translate into financial loss due to revenue loss. It will also lead to missed opportunities and a bad brand image. You should try to implement network redundancy systems as it will help you in protecting your business from downtime. In this article, we are going to talk about Network redundancy and its importance.

Definition of Network Redundancy:

It is a simple process of adding additional devices to your network and lines of communication. This will ensure that your network will always stay available. Thus, it will reduce the chance of network downtime.

If you are not using backup systems, then your network will have a single point of failure. Due to this, your entire network will go down if your main equipment is down. You can eliminate this problem by using network redundancy.

Different Types of Network Redundancy:

There are two main types of network redundancy that you can use for ensuring network availability:

• High Availability: This is a software-based system. It uses different clusters of the server that will help you in monitoring your network. If one of your servers is down, then you can use backup servers for restarting your applications. It is very less infrastructure intensive when compared to the fault tolerance redundant system. However, you need to deal with some downtime as you need to reboot your applications and systems.
• Fault Tolerance: It is a hardware-based redundant system. You can mirror your applications into multiple systems. If your main system is down, then you can use your mirrored backup system for completing your work. This is perfect for organizations that are running healthcare and industrial applications as they can’t tolerate downtime.

First, you should work on creating a network strategy. This network strategy will help you in reviewing your existing IT infrastructure. If your servers are already not working properly, then there is no point in buying backup systems. You should ensure that you have access to extensive backup systems. Your backup systems will give power to your infrastructure during a power outage. UPS systems will ensure that your servers can switch to backup generator power during a power outage. This will help you in minimizing network downtime.

You can follow these practices for optimizing your network redundancy:

1. Backup your data in a remote location

You should ensure that all your valuable data is backed up in a remote location. A good backup strategy will help you in finding the best places to store and replicate the system. If your main network systems are down, then you can use these backup systems for recovering your data.

2. Regularly test your backup systems

You should regularly test your backup systems. It is important to conduct regular tests as it will help you in assessing the integrity of your redundant networks and backup systems. You can test different network connections by disconnecting your network hardware. If your backup systems are not working, then you can work on fixing them.

3. Risk of cyberattacks

Most companies think that network failures are only caused by natural disasters or human errors. However, the vast majority of network failures occur due to cyberattacks. Hackers can use ransomware attacks for capturing your main systems. You can’t operate your systems due to ransomware. Attackers can also use DDoS attacks for targeting your network.

You should consider these cyberattacks and work on an IRP or incident response plan. These plans will help you in countering these attacks. You can ensure network resiliency by using this plan. Network redundancy is going to play a major role in your response plan.

Definition of DDoS attacks:

In this, attackers will try to take down your entire network. They will try to make your service or network unusable. Attackers will generally use botnets or malware-compromised machines for sending traffic to your network. Due to this, your entire network will go down.

There are various different types of DDoS attacks. Volumetric DDoS attacks will consume your network downtime due to which your network will go down. Attackers can use protocol DDoS attacks for targeting vulnerabilities in your network like TCP handshake protocols. They can also use Application layer attacks for pinging your servers with excessive HTTP requests. Some attackers will mix all these attacks for targeting your network.

Attackers targeted AWS in 2020 by sending more than 2.3 Tbps data to their server. Most networks can’t deal with DDoS attacks. Even a script kiddie attacker can take down your network if they have access to enough machines.

How to protect your business from DDoS attacks?

You can prevent these attacks by implementing redundant networks. These networks will ensure that you can use backup systems in case of an attack. You can use diverse traffic routing technology for bypassing DDoS attacks without worrying about bandwidth. Also, you can increase network latency by using traffic routing options. These services will help you in increasing your network uptime. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in protecting your business from DDoS attacks. They will help you in creating an incident response plan which will help you in protecting your business from various cyberattacks.

Conclusion

Modern businesses need 24/7 access to their network. You can’t do your work until you have access to your cloud and the internet. Thus, network redundancy is becoming more important for businesses. It will ensure that you can recover your data in case of a network failure. This will help you in decreasing the effects of network downtime. Redundant networks will offer a lot of value to your business. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in optimizing your network. They can also help you in avoiding most of the cyberattacks. Thus, you should consider working with a good MSP. If you need more information regarding network redundancy, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.