SafeKit is an all-in-one high availability software solution that ensures 100% application uptime by combining real-time host-based replication , automatic failover , and load balancing into a single package.
By synchronizing data between standard servers, SafeKit eliminates the need for expensive shared storage (SAN) or specialized IT skills, providing a simple, cost-effective way to protect enterprise databases (like SQL Server), critical security systems (like Milestone XProtect Video Management Software), and SCADA industrial control software (like Siemens applications) across both Windows and Linux environments.
Explore SafeKit: Features, technical videos, documentation, and free trial
| Resource Type | Description | Direct Link |
|---|---|---|
| Key Features | Why Choose SafeKit for Simple and Cost-Effective High Availability? | See Why Choose SafeKit for High Availability |
| Use Cases | Explore How SafeKit Ensures the High Availability of Critical Infrastructure | See All Use Cases (OEM Software, Edge Servers, SCADA, and more) |
| Deployment Model | All-in-One SANless HA: Shared-Nothing Software Clustering | See SafeKit All-in-One SANless HA |
| HA Strategies | SafeKit: Infrastructure (VM) vs. Application-Level High Availability | See SafeKit HA & Redundancy: VM vs. Application Level |
| Technical Specifications | Technical Limitations for SafeKit Clustering | See SafeKit High Availability Limitations |
| Proof of Concept | SafeKit: High Availability Configuration & Failover Demos | See SafeKit Failover Tutorials |
| Architecture | How the SafeKit Mirror Cluster works (Real-Time Replication & Failover) | See SafeKit Mirror Cluster: Real-Time Replication & Failover |
| Architecture | How the SafeKit Farm Cluster works (Network Load Balancing & Failover) | See SafeKit Farm Cluster: Network Load Balancing & Failover |
| Competitive Advantages | Comparison: SafeKit vs. Traditional High Availability (HA) Clusters | See SafeKit vs. Traditional HA Cluster Comparison |
| Technical Resources | SafeKit High Availability: Documentation, Downloads & Trial | See SafeKit HA Free Trial & Technical Documentation |
| Pre-configured Solutions | SafeKit Application Module Library: Ready-to-Use HA Solutions | See SafeKit High Availability Application Modules |
SafeKit provides the following features for Windows and Linux in a single software product:
No. SafeKit is simple to deploy—no advanced expertise required.
No. SafeKit runs on your existing servers, virtual machines, or in the cloud—no shared disks or SAN storage needed.
No. SafeKit works with standard Windows and Linux editions and does not need enterprise database licenses.
SafeKit solves:
You can implement real-time replication and failover for:
SafeKit eliminates the following requirements:
SafeKit features a transparent, cost-effective per-node licensing model based strictly on the number of servers, regardless of CPU cores or sockets. Unlike many high-availability competitors that mandate recurring subscriptions, SafeKit offers perpetual licenses to ensure a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and long-term software assets.
Offering high availability with your application increases business value by ensuring continuous service, reducing downtime risks, and enhancing customer trust, while enabling critical operations to run without interruption on standard infrastructures.
Add SafeKit in your catalog as a high availability option: a software-only solution tailored to your application, with no hidden costs such as shared storage, fully hardware-agnostic, and deployable on physical, virtual, or cloud environments, with simple plug-and-play administration.
Edge sites often have no data center and no HA expertise—yet business continuity is critical. SafeKit keeps edge applications running in factories, oil platforms, ships, building security, air traffic control, 5G networks, healthcare, retail…
SafeKit turns two standard edge servers (any brand) into a plug‑and‑play HA cluster—no shared storage/SAN. One lightweight stack delivers real‑time replication and automatic failover (and can also include load balancing), easy to install and administer.
Video Management Software (VMS) is critical to public safety, recording and displaying live and archived video so security officers can react instantly to incidents. Any VMS outage directly puts people and assets at risk.
SafeKit prevents video loss and monitoring gaps by maintaining continuous access to live and recorded streams, even during server or software failures. It integrates seamlessly with leading VMS platforms such as Milestone, Genetec, Hanwha , and others to keep surveillance operational when it matters most.
Electronic Access Control Systems (EACS) are essential to physical security, controlling and monitoring access to private and sensitive areas through doors, badges, readers, and sensors. Any system outage can immediately expose people, buildings, and assets to intrusion.
SafeKit keeps access control decisions, alarms, and credentials available at all times by eliminating single points of failure. It delivers resilient operation for EACS solutions such as Hirsch Microsesame, Nedap AEOS, and Siemens SiPass , ensuring secure access even during infrastructure incidents.
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are at the core of industrial environments, enabling operators to monitor and control critical processes through sensors, valves, pumps, motors, and human‑machine interfaces.
SafeKit minimizes production downtime by ensuring SCADA control systems—such as those powering Probat coffee roasters and ALSTEF baggage sorting machines —remain operational despite hardware or software incidents. This allows operators to retain full visibility and control of industrial processes at all times, preventing costly shutdowns and safety risks.
Building Management Systems (BMS) are central to modern buildings, providing automated control of HVAC, electrical distribution, lighting, fire safety, and water systems. Any system outage can directly impact occupant safety, comfort, and building operations.
SafeKit safeguards building automation by allowing BMS services to continue running transparently in the event of a failure. It supports platforms such as Siemens Desigo CC, Bosch BIS , and related systems to maintain safe, efficient, and uninterrupted building operations.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems are critical to aviation safety, enabling real‑time monitoring and control of aircraft movements on the ground and in the air through surveillance, guidance, and control applications.
SafeKit reinforces ATC system resilience by guaranteeing uninterrupted controller access to critical airside applications. It is used with ATC and airport solutions such as ADB SafeGate to support safe, continuous air traffic operations under all conditions.
Operations Control Centers (OCC) are at the heart of modern metro networks, centralizing supervision of train movements, power supply, signaling, passenger information, and incident management. In automated driverless metro lines, the OCC is the single point of control for operations.
SafeKit secures uninterrupted metro supervision by ensuring OCC applications remain available during failures. It supports Operations Control Centers for automated, driverless Paris metro lines , enabling continuous service and rapid incident response without reliance on onboard drivers.
In the world of business continuity, many organizations mistakenly believe that having a backup or a data replication tool is the same as having High Availability (HA). In reality, these are only pieces of a much larger puzzle. To truly guarantee 100% uptime, you need an all-in-one solution that integrates every layer of the failover process.
Here is why a fragmented approach fails and why an integrated, all-in-one product like SafeKit —utilizing host-based replication at the file level —is required.
No. Data replication is simply the act of copying data from Server A to Server B. While critical, replication by itself does not provide availability. Without the other components of an HA stack, replication is just a “passive copy” that requires manual, time-consuming intervention to become useful:
Many vendors require you to “bolt together” several different products to achieve host-based replication , failover , and load balancing. This fragmented architecture is a dangerous strategy for mission-critical systems:
To automate recovery and eliminate downtime, an all-in-one product must manage several technical moving parts simultaneously:
If your failover manager and your data replication are two different products, they may not be “in sync.”
The Danger: If a failover occurs but the replication hasn’t finished sending the latest bits, Server B will start the application with outdated or corrupted data.
An all-in-one SANless HA solution ensures that the failover mechanism is aware of the replication state. It will only allow the application to start on the backup node if the data is guaranteed to be up-to-date, preventing conflicting active nodes and data loss.
Often ignored in technical guides and poorly executed by traditional HA solutions, automatic failback remains the most critical requirement for true resilience. A true all-in-one product handles the “Return to Normal” as elegantly as the failure. When the failed server comes back online, it is behind in data. The HA software must:
The technical method used for host-based replication significantly impacts how much you have to change your existing application setup.
SafeKit offers two primary approaches to ensure business continuity: Virtual Machine HA (VM HA) and Application HA. While both methods provide automatic failover capabilities, they differ significantly in their scope, data replication mechanisms, recovery speed, and platform compatibility. This comparison breaks down these differences to help identify the optimal strategy for specific IT environments, whether the focus is on broad virtualization support or granular, high-speed application recovery.
Feature Comparison: SafeKit VM HA vs. SafeKit Application HA Clustering
| Comparison Feature | VM HA with SafeKit Hyper-V or KVM Module | Application HA with SafeKit Application Modules |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment Diagram | ||
| Failover Scope | SafeKit inside 2 hypervisors: replication and failover of the full VM. | SafeKit inside 2 virtual or physical machines: replication and failover at the application level. |
| Data Replicated | Replicates more data (Application + Operating System). | Replicates only application data, leading to smaller data volumes. |
| Recovery Process & Speed (RTO) | Reboot of VM on hypervisor 2 if hypervisor 1 crashes. Recovery time depends on the OS reboot. VM checker and failover mechanism. | Quick recovery time with restart of App on OS2 if server 1 crashes. Typically around 1 minute or less (low RTO). Application checker and software failover. |
| Installation | Application is installed once in a single VM. | Application is installed on two nodes. |
| Configuration | Generic solution for any application / OS running in the VM. • It does not require a technical understanding of the application installed within the VM. • It is the best solution if you do not know how the application works. • You only need to define the location of the VM files. |
It requires a technical understanding of the application itself. • Which services need to be restarted. • The specific application folders that need real-time replication. • The configuration of a virtual IP address for failover. |
| Platform Compatibility | Works with Windows/Hyper-V and Linux/KVM but is not compatible with VMware. | Platform agnostic; works with physical or virtual machines, cloud infrastructure, and any hypervisor, including VMware. |
| Ideal For | Ideal for managing complex environments with multiple applications across several VMs through a single HA policy. | Ideal for embedding high availability directly into a software solution, independent of the underlying hardware or hypervisor. |
Resynchronization time after a failure (step 3)
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Training and certification platform here
<br />
See SafeKit vs. Traditional HA Cluster Comparison
<br />
<br />
Server 1 (PRIM) runs the Windows/Linux application. Clients are connected to a virtual IP address. SafeKit replicates in real time modifications made inside files through the network.
The replication is synchronous with no data loss on failure contrary to asynchronous replication.
You just have to configure the names of directories to replicate in SafeKit. There are no pre-requisites on disk organization. Directories may be located in the system disk.
When Server 1 fails, Server 2 takes over. SafeKit switches the virtual IP address and restarts the Windows/Linux application automatically on Server 2.
The application finds the files replicated by SafeKit uptodate on Server 2. The application continues to run on Server 2 by locally modifying its files that are no longer replicated to Server 1.
The failover time is equal to the fault-detection time (30 seconds by default) plus the application start-up time.
Failback involves restarting Server 1 after fixing the problem that caused it to fail.
SafeKit automatically resynchronizes the files, updating only the files modified on Server 2 while Server 1 was halted.
Failback takes place without disturbing the Windows/Linux application, which can continue running on Server 2.
After reintegration, the files are once again in mirror mode, as in step 1. The system is back in high-availability mode, with the Windows/Linux application running on Server 2 and SafeKit replicating file updates to Server 1.
If the administrator wishes the application to run on Server 1, this can be done manually through the web console at an appropriate time, or automatically through configuration.
The SafeKit web console provides an intuitive interface to orchestrate high availability for your critical applications. In just a few steps, you can configure a SafeKit mirror cluster to ensure business continuity:
The SafeKit cluster includes a dedicated split-brain checker to resolve network isolation issues without the need for a third witness machine or an additional heartbeat network. Learn more about heartbeat, failover and quorum in a cluster.
The SafeKit management console offers a unified view of your high availability infrastructure. It allows administrators to monitor the operational state of the cluster and track data synchronization in real-time.
For a 2-node mirror cluster, the console clearly displays the roles of each server:
Beyond simple status icons, the interface provides one-click failover orchestration , allowing you to manually reassign the primary role for planned maintenance while ensuring continuous availability for user activity.
On the previous figure, the Windows/Linux application is running on the 3 servers (3 is an example, it can be 2 or more). Users are connected to a virtual IP address.
The virtual IP address is configured locally on each server in the farm-mode cluster.
The input traffic to the virtual IP address is received by all the servers and split among them by a network filter inside each server’s kernel.
SafeKit detects hardware and software failures, reconfigures network filters in the event of a failure, and offers configurable application checkers and recovery scripts.
The network load balancing algorithm inside the network filter is based on the identity of the client packets (client IP address, client TCP port). Depending on the identity of the client packet input, only one filter in a server accepts the packet; the other filters in other servers reject it.
Once a packet is accepted by the filter on a server, only the CPU and memory of this server are used by the Windows/Linux application that responds to the request of the client. The output messages are sent directly from the application server to the client.
If a server fails, the farm heartbeat protocol reconfigures the filters in the network load balancing cluster to re-balance the traffic on the remaining available servers.
With a stateful Windows/Linux application, there is session affinity. The same client must be connected to the same server on multiple TCP sessions to retrieve its context on the server. In this case, the SafeKit load balancing rule is configured on the client IP address. Thus, the same client is always connected to the same server on multiple TCP sessions. And different clients are distributed across different servers in the farm.
With a stateless Windows/Linux application, there is no session affinity. The same client can be connected to different servers in the farm on multiple TCP sessions. There is no context stored locally on a server from one session to another. In this case, the SafeKit load balancing rule is configured on the TCP client session identity. This configuration is the one which is the best for distributing sessions between servers, but it requires a TCP service without session affinity.
The SafeKit cluster in farm mode is designed for high availability and scalability of services. The configuration focuses on distributing incoming traffic across both nodes simultaneously:
Monitoring a cluster in farm mode provides visibility into the Active-Active nature of the infrastructure, where all nodes contribute to the application’s performance (showing 2 nodes in this example):
Beyond simple status icons, the interface provides one-click node management, allowing you to manually stop or start a node for planned maintenance while the shared Virtual IP automatically redistributes traffic without interrupting user activity.
This comparison highlights the fundamental differences between SafeKit and traditional High Availability (HA) cluster solutions like Failover Clusters, Virtualization HA, and SQL Always-On. SafeKit is designed as a low-complexity, software-only solution for generic application redundancy, contrasting with the high complexity and specific storage requirements (shared storage, SAN) typical of traditional HA mechanisms.
Comparison of SafeKit with traditional High Availability (HA) clusters
| Solutions | Complexity | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Failover Cluster (Microsoft) | High | Specific Storage (shared storage, SAN) |
| Virtualization (VMware HA) | High | Specific Storage (shared storage, SAN, vSAN) |
| SQL Always-On (Microsoft) | High | Only SQL is redundant, requires SQL Enterprise Edition |
| SafeKit | Low | Simplest, generic and software-only. Unsuitable for large data replication. |
In summary , SafeKit achieves its low-complexity High Availability through a simple, software-based mirroring mechanism that eliminates the need for expensive, dedicated hardware like a SAN (Storage Area Network). This makes it a highly accessible solution for quickly implementing application redundancy without complex infrastructure changes.
Choosing the right High Availability (HA) solution is critical for ensuring business continuity and minimizing downtime. This comparison provides a direct, technical review of two major architectural approaches: SafeKit’s software-defined, shared-nothing clustering versus Traditional HA methods that typically rely on hardware, shared disks (like a SAN), and complex configurations. These distinctions cover deployment simplicity, data replication methods, recovery speed (RTO/RPO), and operational complexity. The table below details the core differences across key high availability topics.
High Availability Comparison: SafeKit Software Clustering vs. Traditional HA / Hardware Clustering
| Topic | SafeKit (Software Clustering / Primary Approach) | Traditional HA / Hardware Clustering |
|---|---|---|
| Software Clustering vs. Hardware Clustering | • A simple software cluster with the SafeKit package just installed on two servers | • Complex hardware clustering with external storage or network load balancers |
| Shared Nothing vs. a Shared Disk Cluster | • SafeKit is a shared-nothing cluster: easy to deploy even in remote sites | • A shared disk cluster is complex to deploy |
| Application High Availability vs. Full Virtual Machine High Availability | • Application HA supports hardware failure and software failure with application checkers. • Quick recovery time by restarting only the application (RTO around 1 mn or less). • Application HA requires to define restart scripts per application and folders to replicate (SafeKit application modules). |
• Full virtual machines HA supports hardware failure and some software failures like a frozen VM. • VM reboot on failure and recovery time depending on the OS reboot. • No restart scripts to define with full virtual machines HA (SafeKithyperv.safeorkvm.safemodules). Hypervisors are active/active with just multiple virtual machines. |
| High Availability vs. Fault Tolerance | • No dedicated server with SafeKit. Eachserver can be the failover server of the other one. • Software failure with restart in another OS environment. • Smooth upgrade of application and OS possible server by server (version N and N+1 can coexist) |
• Secondary server dedicated to the execution of the same application synchronized at the instruction level. • Software exception on both servers at the same time. • Smooth upgrade not possible • Specific fault-tolerant hardware or hypervisors |
| Synchronous Replication vs. Asynchronous Replication | • SafeKit implements real-time synchronous replication with no data loss in case of failure • Prerequisite for high availability |
• With asynchronous replication, there is data loss on failure • Not suited for high availability but for backup solutions |
| Byte-level File Replication vs. Block-level Disk Replication | • SafeKit implements real-time byte-level file replication and is simply configured with application directories to replicate even in the system disk | • Block-level disk replication is complex to configure and requires to put application data in a special disk |
| Heartbeat, Failover, and Quorum to Avoid 2 Master Nodes | • To avoid 2 masters, SafeKit proposes a simple split brain checker configured on a router | • To avoid 2 masters, other clusters require a complex configuration with a third machine, a special quorum disk, a special interconnect |
| Virtual IP Address: Primary/Secondary, Network Load Balancing, Failover | • No dedicated proxy servers and no special network configuration are required in a SafeKit cluster for virtual IP addresses | • Special network configuration is required in other clusters for virtual IP addresses. Note that SafeKit offers a health check adapted to load balancers |
In summary , the architectural choice between software clustering (like SafeKit) and hardware clustering (traditional shared-disk/SAN) significantly impacts deployment complexity, operational costs, and recovery effectiveness. The key takeaway from this comparison is the shift toward shared-nothing, application-level HA which prioritizes rapid application recovery (low RTO) and deployment flexibility (even across remote sites), often resulting in a more streamlined and resilient solution than highly complex, hardware-dependent cluster configurations. For maximum business continuity with simplified management, evaluating a software-based approach is essential.
Choosing the right data replication approach is critical for ensuring business continuity. This comparison highlights the key differentiators of SafeKit’s mirror cluster with real-time file replication against traditional alternatives such as database-level replication, disk replication, shared disk solutions, and fault-tolerant systems.
SafeKit mirror cluster: advantages over alternative replication and clustering approaches
| Feature | SafeKit advantage | Limitation of alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 3 products in 1 | Saves on Windows and Linux the cost of external shared/replicated storage, load balancing boxes, and enterprise editions of OS and databases. Includes all clustering features: synchronous real-time file replication, failure monitoring, automatic restart, virtual IP failover. | Traditional approaches require separate products for storage replication, load balancing, and clustering — increasing cost and complexity. |
| Very simple configuration | Configuration via application modules. New services and replicated directories can be added easily. All managed through a centralized web console. No domain controller or Active Directory required. | Microsoft cluster and similar solutions require complex Active Directory configuration and domain controllers. |
| Synchronous replication | Real-time replication is synchronous with no data loss on failure (RPO = 0). | Asynchronous replication can lose recent transactions that were not yet replicated at failure time. |
| Fully automated failback | After failure, when a server reboots, the replication failback is fully automatic. The failed server reintegrates the cluster without stopping the application on the remaining server. | Most replication solutions (especially database-level) require manual resynchronization. The application may even be stopped during failback. |
| Replication of any type of data | Replication works for databases and for any files that need to be replicated. | Database-level replication only protects the database, not configuration files, logs, or other application data. |
| File replication vs disk replication | Replication is based on file directories that can be located anywhere, even on the system disk. | Disk replication requires a dedicated disk partition and special application configuration to store data there. |
| File replication vs shared disk | Servers can be deployed in two remote sites with no shared infrastructure. | Shared disk solutions require physical proximity and cannot span remote sites. |
| Remote sites and virtual IP | All clustering features work for 2 servers in remote sites. Extended LAN enables level-2 VIP rerouting. For different IP networks, VIP is managed via a load balancer with SafeKit health check. | Many clustering solutions do not support remote site failover or require complex DNS redirection with unpredictable recovery times. |
| Quorum and split brain | Works with only 2 servers. A simple split brain checker to a router handles network isolation between sites. | Most clustering solutions require a 3rd server for quorum management. |
| Active/active cluster | The secondary server is not dedicated. The cluster can run active/active with 2 different mirror modules. | Fault-tolerant systems dedicate the secondary to execute the same application synchronized at instruction level. |
| Uniform HA solution | SafeKit implements both mirror cluster (replication + failover) and farm cluster (load balancing + failover). A N-tier architecture can be made HA with one solution on Windows and Linux. | Typical architectures mix different technologies for load balancing, replication, and failover — increasing operational complexity. |
| RTO / RPO | Quick application restart in case of failure: around 1 minute or less. Zero data loss (synchronous replication). | Full VM replication (VMware HA, Hyper-V cluster) requires rebooting the entire OS on a new hypervisor, resulting in longer recovery times. |
In summary , SafeKit’s mirror cluster provides a unified, cost-effective high availability solution that combines synchronous file replication, automatic failover and failback, load balancing, and remote site support — all without requiring dedicated hardware, shared storage, or a third quorum server. This simplicity makes it particularly suited for software editors and organizations needing reliable HA on standard Windows and Linux servers.
The SafeKit Farm Cluster is a high availability solution specifically designed for scalable application environments where load distribution and rapid failover are essential. Unlike traditional methods that require dedicated hardware load balancers or complex network configurations, SafeKit provides an integrated, software-defined clustering solution installed directly on the application servers. The table below details the core features and unique advantages of the SafeKit Farm Cluster, focusing on how it simplifies network load balancing and ensures continuous service availability across Windows and Linux platforms.
Key Differentiators of SafeKit Farm Cluster with Load Balancing and Failover
| Advantage | Detailed Benefit and Mechanism |
|---|---|
| No load balancer or dedicated proxy servers or special multicast Ethernet address | • The solution does not require load balancers or dedicated proxy servers above the farm for implementing load balancing. SafeKit is installed directly on the application servers in the farm. The load balancing is based on a standard virtual IP address/Ethernet MAC address and is working with physical servers or virtual machines on Windows and Linux without special network configuration • This is not the case with network load balancers • This is not the case with dedicated proxies on Linux • This is not the case with aspecific multicast Ethernet addresson Windows |
| All clustering features | • The solution includes all clustering features: virtual IP address, load balancing on client IP address or on sessions, monitoring of server / network / software failures, automatic application restart with a quick recovery time and areplication option with a mirror module • This is not the case with other load balancing solutions. They are able to make load balancing but they do not include a full clustering solution with restart scripts and automatic application restart in case of failure. They do not offer a replication option • The cluster configuration is very simple and made by means ofapplication modules. There is no domain controller or active directory to configure on Windows. The solution works on Windows and Linux |
| Remote sites and virtual IP address | • If servers are connected to the same IP network through an extended LAN between remote sites, thevirtual IP addressof SafeKit is working with load balancing at level 2 • If servers are connected to different IP networks between remote sites, the virtual IP address can be configured at the level of a load balancer with the help of the SafeKit health check. Thus you can implement load balancing but also all the clustering features of SafeKit, in particular monitoring and automatic recovery of the critical application on application servers |
| Uniform high availability solution | • SafeKit implements a farm cluster with load balancing and failover. But it implements also amirror cluster with replication and failover. • Thus a N-tiers architecture can be made highly available and load balanced with the same solution on Windows and Linux (same installation, configuration, administration with the SafeKit console or with the command line interface). This is unique on the market • This is not the case with an architecture mixing different technologies for load balancing, replication and failover |
In summary , the SafeKit Farm Cluster provides a unified, software-based approach to load balancing and high availability that dramatically lowers complexity and cost. By embedding load balancing and failover directly into the application server layer using a standard virtual IP address, it avoids the need for external network hardware (load balancers or proxies) and specialized multicast configurations. This integrated approach, coupled with its ability to combine with the mirror cluster for full N-tiers HA, makes SafeKit a uniquely simple and comprehensive solution for achieving scalable and resilient application delivery across diverse environments.
When implementing high availability, a key decision is whether to protect at the virtual machine (VM) level or at the application level. VM-level HA replicates and fails over entire virtual machines, providing a generic solution for any application. Application-level HA targets only the application data and services, resulting in faster recovery times and lower resource usage. SafeKit uniquely offers both approaches — without requiring shared storage (SAN) in either case — allowing you to choose the best fit for your infrastructure and recovery requirements.
SafeKit VM HA vs Application HA vs Traditional Hyper-V Cluster & VMware HA
| Criteria | VM HA with SafeKit Hyper-V or KVM module | Application HA with SafeKit application modules | Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster & VMware HA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | SafeKit installed inside 2 hypervisors. Replication and failover of the full VM. | SafeKit installed inside 2 virtual or physical machines. Replication and failover at application level. | Hypervisor cluster with shared storage. VM restart on another host if the hypervisor fails. |
| Storage | No shared disk — synchronous real-time replication with no data loss | No shared disk — synchronous replication of application data only | Requires a shared disk and a specific external bay of disks |
| Data replicated | Replicates more data (application + OS) | Replicates only application data | No replication — shared storage accessed by all hosts |
| Recovery time | Reboot of the VM on hypervisor 2 if hypervisor 1 crashes. Recovery time = time to reboot the VM. Failover if the VM crashes. | Quick recovery with restart of the application on server 2. Around 1 minute or less (see RTO/RPO here). Advanced application checker and software failover. | Full VM reboot on a new hypervisor. Recovery time depends on OS reboot + application startup. |
| Disaster recovery / Remote sites | No SAN needed — replication built into SafeKit across remote sites | No SAN needed — replication built into SafeKit across remote sites | Requires replicated bays of disks across a SAN or vSAN |
| Configuration | Define the location of the VM files folder where the application is installed. Generic solution for any application/OS. | Define services to restart, application folders to replicate, and a virtual IP address for failover inside an application module. | Specific IT skills required to configure the system |
| Supported platforms | Works with Hyper-V and KVM (not VMware directly, except by nesting Hyper-V or KVM inside VMware). | Works in any infrastructure: physical servers, VMware, Hyper-V, KVM virtual machines, cloud. | Limited to VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V environments |
| IT skills | No specific IT skill required. Automatic failover. | No specific IT skill required. Automatic failover. | Specific IT skills required to configure the system |
In summary , SafeKit is the only solution that provides both VM-level and application-level high availability without shared storage. For maximum flexibility and fastest recovery times (around 1 minute), application-level HA is the preferred approach — it works on any platform (physical, virtual, or cloud) and replicates only the data that matters. For environments where protecting the entire VM is simpler, SafeKit’s Hyper-V/KVM module offers a generic, SAN-less alternative to traditional Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster or VMware HA — eliminating the cost and complexity of shared storage infrastructure while still guaranteeing zero data loss through synchronous real-time replication.
Note that SafeKit solutions are the simplest to implement but are limited to replication of a few Tera-bytes and failover of 32 VMs.
💡 To kickstart your high availability journey with SafeKit, begin with the Quick Installation Guides.
This table provides the SafeKit installation files for the current version, organized by operating system and installer type.
| OS / Platform | Installer Type | Key Benefit / Documentation | Download Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Platforms | PDF Document | Official Software Release Bulletin (OS Support & Fixes) | 📄 View SafeKit 8.2 SRB |
| Windows (Intel 64-bit) | .exe Installer | Includes Microsoft VC++ Redistributable | ⬇️ Download SafeKit 8.2 Windows EXE |
| Windows (Intel 64-bit) | .msi Installer | Does not include Microsoft VC++ Redistributable | ⬇️ Download SafeKit 8.2 Windows MSI |
| Linux (Intel 64-bit) | Auto-extractable .BIN | Includes Linux package and installation script | ⬇️ Download SafeKit 8.2 Linux BIN File (Intel) |
| Linux (ARM 64-bit) | Auto-extractable .BIN | Includes Linux package and installation script | ⬇️ Download SafeKit 8.2 Linux BIN File (ARM) |
The following link provides access to a full-featured trial designed for testing and setting up a High Availability cluster with SafeKit.
➡️ Get Your Free 1-Month Trial Key to Test SafeKit’s High Availability
Essential documentation for setting up and managing your SafeKit’s High Availability Cluster.
Gain valuable expertise in High Availability (HA) with our free certification program.
Explore our product marketing documentation for SafeKit HA software, which includes a detailed data sheet, product white paper, and technical overview.
This table presents the SafeKit High Availability (HA) solutions, categorized by application and operating environment (Databases, Web Servers, VMs, Containers, Cloud). Identify the specific pre‑configured .safe module (e.g., mirror.safe, farm.safe, and others) required for real‑time replication, load balancing, and automatic failover of critical business applications on Windows or Linux. Simplify your HA cluster setup with direct links to quick installation guides.
A SafeKit .safe module is essentially a pre‑configured High Availability (HA) template that defines how a specific application will be clustered and protected by the SafeKit software. In practice, it is a zip file which contains a configuration file (userconfig.xml) and restart scripts.
⚠️ Note: * mirror.safe and farm.safe modules are included by default in the SafeKit installation package.
SafeKit High Availability (HA) Solutions: Quick Installation Guides (with downloadable .safe modules)