---
title: "High Availability and Redundancy for Building Management Systems (BMS)"
description: "High Availability and Redundancy for Building Management Systems (BMS) A building management system (BMS) brings the automatic centralized control of building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting... A building management system increases safety for building residents, reduces energy consumption and reduces operating and maintenance costs. A BMS software controls fire system, electrical distribution […]"
canonical: "https://safekit.eviden.com/use-cases/building-management-system-software-bms-redundancy/"
topics: "What is a building management system (BMS)?, Why a BMS software is critical?, Key players list in BMS, SafeKit brings two solutions for redundancy and high availability of a BMS software, SafeKit, a recognized solution on the security market, 🔍 SafeKit High Availability Navigation Hub"
category: "use-cases"
lang: "en"
---

<h1 id="high-availability-and-redundancy-for-building-management-systems-bms">High Availability and Redundancy for Building Management Systems (BMS)</h1>
<h2 id="what-is-a-building-management-system-bms">What is a building management system (BMS)?</h2>
<p>A building management system (BMS) brings the automatic centralized control of building&rsquo;s HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting&hellip;</p>
<p>A building management system increases safety for building residents, reduces energy consumption and reduces operating and maintenance costs.</p>
<h2 id="why-a-bms-software-is-critical">Why a BMS software is critical?</h2>
<p>A BMS software controls fire system, electrical distribution panels, water consumption, air conditioning systems, lighting control.</p>
<p>Life safety in the building is directly associated to the correct execution of the BMS software.</p>
<p>And that’s why, the system must be always available for building operators who must react immediately to the slightest incident.</p>
<h2 id="key-players-list-in-bms">Key players list in BMS</h2>
<p>The key players in BMS are:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Honeywell International Inc. (US)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Johnson Controls (Ireland)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Schneider Electric (France)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Siemens (Germany)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>United Technologies (US)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>ABB (Sweden)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Azbil Corporation (Japan)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Delta Controls (India)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>LARSEN &amp; TOUBRO LIMITED (India)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (Singapore)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>DEXMA SENSORS, S.L. (Spain)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Eagle Technology (India)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Legrand (France)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. (US)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Technovator International Limited (Singapore)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Airedale Air Conditioning (UK)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>BuildingIQ (US)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>ACUITY BRANDS LIGHTING, INC. (US)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>GridPoint (US)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="safekit-brings-two-solutions-for-redundancy-and-high-availability-of-a-bms-software">SafeKit brings two solutions for redundancy and high availability of a BMS software</h2>
<h3 id="redundancy-and-high-availability-at-the-application-level">Redundancy and high availability at the application level</h3>
<p>In this type of solution, only application data are replicated. And only the application is restared in case of failure.</p>
<img src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/application-ha-4.png" width="168" alt="Redundancy at the application level for a BMS software">
<p>This solution requires a technical understanding of the application. You need to define which services to restart, specify the application folders to replicate, and configure a virtual IP address for failover. But this solution is platform agnostic and works with applications inside physical machines, virtual machines, in the Cloud. Any hypervisor is supported (VMware, Hyper-V&hellip;).</p>
<h3 id="examples">Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>Video management: <a href="/solutions/milestone-xprotect-corporate-high-availability-synchronous-replication-failover/">Milestone (Management, SQL, Log, Event)/SafeKit</a></li>
<li>Video management: <a href="/solutions/genetec-sql-server-the-simplest-high-availability-cluster-with-synchronous-replication-and-failover-between-two-redundant-servers/">Genetec (SQL)/SafeKit</a></li>
<li>Access control: <a href="/solutions/nedap-high-availability-synchronous-replication-failover/">Nedap (AEOS, SQL)/SafeKit</a></li>
<li>New application (define services to restart, application folders to replicate, a virtual IP address for failover): <a href="/solutions/windows-high-availability-software-synchronous-replication-failover/">Windows</a>, <a href="/solutions/linux-high-availability-software-synchronous-replication-failover/">Linux</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="redundancy-and-high-availability-at-the-virtual-machine-level">Redundancy and high availability at the virtual machine level</h3>
<p>In this type of solution, the BMS software is put inside a virtual machine. The full Virtual Machine (VM) is replicated and restarted (Application + OS).</p>
<img src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/vm-ha-4.png" width="184" alt="Redundancy at the virtual machine level for a BMS software">
<p>The advantage of this solution is that it does not require a technical understanding of the application; you only need to define the location of the VM files where the application is installed. This solution is generic for any BMS software. However, it works only with Windows/Hyper-V and Linux/KVM, but not with VMware. This is an active/active solution with several virtual machines replicated and restarted between two nodes.</p>
<h3 id="examples-1">Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>Building management: <a href="/solutions/siemens-desigo-cc-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">Siemens Desigo CC/SafeKit</a></li>
<li>Video management and access control: <a href="/solutions/siemens-siveillance-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">Siemens Siveillance suite/SafeKit</a></li>
<li>New application (define the location of the VM files folder where the application is installed): <a href="/solutions/hyper-v-replication-automatic-failover-load-balancing/">Windows/Hyper-V</a>, <a href="/solutions/linux-kvm-high-availability-replication-automatic-failover-load-balancing/">Linux/KVM</a></li>
</ul>
<p>More comparison between <a href="/best-practises/vm-ha-vs-application-ha/">VM HA vs Application HA</a></p>
<h2 id="safekit-a-recognized-solution-on-the-security-market">SafeKit, a recognized solution on the security market</h2>
<h3 id="milestone-has-chosen-safekit">Milestone has chosen SafeKit</h3>
<p>SafeKit is deployed in 30+ countries with the video management software of Milestone.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.milestonesys.com/products/expand-your-solution/milestone-extensions/management-server-failover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SafeKit is validated by Milestone</a> for redundancy and high availability of the management server.</p>
<p>SafeKit is the best solution because it is purely software, completely hardware-agnostic.</p>
<h3 id="solution-preferred-by-siemens">Solution preferred by Siemens</h3>
<p>SafeKit is available in the <a href="https://www.siemens.com/en-us/products/atos-safekit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Siemens marketplace</a> with its <a href="/solutions/siemens-siveillance-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">Siveillance suite</a> (video and access control) and with its SCADA software: <a href="/solutions/siemens-desigo-cc-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">Desigo CC</a> (building management), <a href="/solutions/siemens-simatic-wincc-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">SIMATIC WinCC</a>, <a href="/solutions/siemens-simatic-pcs-7-redundancy-high-availability-cluster-active-active/">SIMATIC PCS 7</a>.</p>
<p>SafeKit is deployed by Siemens in Australia, France, the Netherlands, Qatar, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK, the US.</p>
<h3 id="safekit-recommended-by-nedap">SafeKit recommended by Nedap</h3>
<p>Nedap, a key player in physical access control, recommends SafeKit for redundancy and high availability of its AEOS application.</p>
<p>The <a href="/solutions/nedap-high-availability-synchronous-replication-failover/">Nedap/SafeKit solution</a> is available with a free trial and a quick installation guide.</p>
<h3 id="til-technologies-has-chosen-safekit">TIL Technologies has chosen SafeKit</h3>
<p>SafeKit is deployed in 100+ customer sites by TIL Technologies for access control and building management.</p>
<p>SafeKit is the <a href="https://www.til-technologies.fr/en_GB/products/microsesame" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high availability option of MICROSESAME</a>.</p>
<h3 id="innovation-award-in-video-management-software">Innovation award in Video Management Software</h3>
<p>Readers of Benchmark Magazine (specialized in physical security systems for resellers &amp; SI) have voted for <a href="https://benchmarkmagazine.com/evidian-safekit-redundancy-and-high-availability/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SafeKit as an innovation in Video Management Software</a>.</p>
<p>This award shows the importance of redundancy in security offerings.</p>
<h2 id="hub">🔍 SafeKit High Availability Navigation Hub</h2>
<p><strong>Explore SafeKit: Features, technical videos, documentation, and free trial</strong></p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Resource Type</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Direct Link</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>Key Features</strong></td>
<td>Why Choose SafeKit for Simple and Cost-Effective High Availability?</td>
<td><a href="/#why-choose-safekit-for-ha" title="Discover SafeKit features for simple and cost-effective high availability">See Why Choose SafeKit for High Availability</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Use Cases</strong></td>
<td>Explore How SafeKit Ensures the High Availability of Critical Infrastructure</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-use-cases" title="Explore SafeKit high availability use cases">See All Use Cases (OEM Software, Edge Servers, SCADA, and more)</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Deployment Model</strong></td>
<td>All-in-One SANless HA: Shared-Nothing Software Clustering</td>
<td><a href="/#all-in-one-sanless-ha" title="Learn about all-in-one SANless high availability with shared-nothing software clustering">See SafeKit All-in-One SANless HA</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>HA Strategies</strong></td>
<td>SafeKit: Infrastructure (VM) vs. Application-Level High Availability</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-ha-redundancy-choices" title="Compare VM-level redundancy with SafeKit application-level high availability strategies">See SafeKit HA &amp; Redundancy: VM vs. Application Level</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Technical Specifications</strong></td>
<td>Technical Limitations for SafeKit Clustering</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-ha-limitations" title="Technical requirements and limitations for SafeKit application clustering">See SafeKit High Availability Limitations</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Proof of Concept</strong></td>
<td>SafeKit: High Availability Configuration &amp; Failover Demos</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-failover-tutorials" title="Step-by-step videos on SafeKit high availability, from installation to automated failover">See SafeKit Failover Tutorials</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Architecture</strong></td>
<td>How the SafeKit Mirror Cluster works (Real-Time Replication &amp; Failover)</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-mirror-cluster" title="See technical architecture and failover mechanism of SafeKit Mirror Cluster">See SafeKit Mirror Cluster: Real-Time Replication &amp; Failover</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Architecture</strong></td>
<td>How the SafeKit Farm Cluster works (Network Load Balancing &amp; Failover)</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-farm-cluster" title="Technical overview of SafeKit Farm Cluster architecture with network load balancing">See SafeKit Farm Cluster: Network Load Balancing &amp; Failover</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Competitive Advantages</strong></td>
<td>Comparison: SafeKit vs. Traditional High Availability (HA) Clusters</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-ha-comparison" title="Detailed comparison of SafeKit software vs traditional hardware-based HA clusters">See SafeKit vs. Traditional HA Cluster Comparison</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Technical Resources</strong></td>
<td>SafeKit High Availability: Documentation, Downloads &amp; Trial</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-ha-technical-resources" title="Access SafeKit free trial, technical documentation, and high availability white papers">See SafeKit HA Free Trial &amp; Technical Documentation</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Pre-configured Solutions</strong></td>
<td>SafeKit Application Module Library: Ready-to-Use HA Solutions</td>
<td><a href="/#safekit-ha-application-modules" title="Browse the library of pre-configured SafeKit modules for automated application failover">See SafeKit High Availability Application Modules</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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