You are here: Failover > Full-server workload failover > Failing over using the Full-Server Failover Manager

Failing over using the Full-Server Failover Manager

When a failover condition is met, you will want to start failover. Additionally, you can start it without a failover condition, as long as protection is enabled. For example, you may want to force failover when upgrading to a better source server.

To start failover, click Failover.
If Double-Take Availability determines there is a possibility that the data on the target is incomplete, you will be warned before failover begins. If you proceed with failover, the state of the source will be unknown until failover is complete. The best case scenario would be a missing data file, while the worst case scenario would be missing system state data that causes the server to be unusable or unbootable. Select your failover options.

Shutdown source server if running—If the source is still running, Full-Server Failover Manager can stop it. Although, if Full-Server Failover Manager cannot communicate with the source, the shutdown command will fail. This option prevents network conflicts in those cases where the source and target are still both running and communicating, such as a forced failover.
Use live data—Select this option to use the data on the target at the time of failover.
Revert to specified snapshot—Select this option, and then select a snapshot. The data on the target will be reverted to the selected snapshot. This option will not be available if there are no snapshots on the target or if the target does not support snapshots. To help you understand what snapshots are available, use the Type and Status columns. The Status indicates the state of the connection between the source and target at the time the snapshot was taken. The Type information is displayed in the following table.

Type	Description
Scheduled	This snapshot was taken as part of a periodic snapshot.
Deferred	This snapshot was taken as part of a periodic snapshot, although it did not occur at the specified interval because the connection between the source and target was not in a good state.
User Request	This snapshot was taken manually by a user.

Click OK to initiate failover. Monitor the failover percentage as shown in the Protection Status. At the end of failover, the target will be rebooted automatically. After the reboot, the target will no longer exist, since it will become the source.

Note:

Because the Windows product activation is dependent on hardware, you may need to reactivate your Windows registration after failover. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the reactivation.

If you are failing over a cluster node, it is possible that volumes may lose their drive letter assignments. If a clustered application fails to start after failover and the disk signature has changed, check the drive letter assignments under the Disk Management utility and re-create drive letter assignments as needed.