High availability PC
High availability is no longer just for the data center.
High availability for PCs
Software issues and malware attacks can completely cripple a business and leave customers stranded. That’s why PCs that perform business critical operations, like ticket counters, gate agents, bank tellers, and more, need to be highly available so that business isn’t disrupted if disaster strikes. To ensure continuity, it is vital to have a recovery solution in place to get multiple systems back up – all at once. Introducing RecoveR from 2Pint Software.
Overview
When we think of high availability, we often think about critical servers in the data center that have been designed with failover capabilities in the event of an issue or outage.
We never think about PCs the same way.
When an incident happens, IT teams are often left scrambling to get these systems back online and working. Delays and disruptions can result in a loss of business and damage company reputation.
Why RecoveR?
RecoveR empowers companies to build, repair, and recover quickly to prevent downtime and business impact.
IT administrators can enable end users to immediately boot PCs up to an alternative OS and connect to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) such as Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop.
Systems impacted by software issues can be rapidly remediated by running repair sequences. In the event of catastrophic failure – such as a corrupt OS, hard drive replacement, malware, or ransomware – RecoveR can install a clean OS on impacted systems.
Typical case
Your business can’t afford an outage, so IT needs to be prepared if the time comes. Recently, a software company released a bad update that caused millions of computers to stop booting. This incident was so big that it sent shockwaves through all industries.
The resolution was relatively simple but, in most cases, it was a manual process. Some companies took several days to fully recover at a global cost in the billions of dollars. Ransomware attacks are on the rise and even more difficult to recover from. Arming IT with technology to keep the business going and start the rebuild process is vital to every company’s disaster/recovery plans.
The challenge
Most companies cannot perform OS deployments to remote offices or to work-from-home users. This leads to outages, downtime, productivity loss, and other business impacts while PCs are shipped, or technicians are sent to fix affected systems. IT must be able to deploy, repair, recover, or alternate boot, no matter where the PC is located.
There are several challenges with doing remote OS deployments, however. The first challenge is booting up the impacted system. Because the installed OS will not boot, the system needs to boot to an alternative option to be remediated.
The second challenge is getting content. For users working from home, bandwidth is typically not as much as an issue as it is for remote office locations. Operating system deployments typically need 6+ GBs of content (OS and drivers). Pulling this amount over a corporate WAN link can take a long time and impact other critical business network traffic if not done properly.
Enter RecoveR
RecoveR from 2Pint Software is based on iPXE Anywhere technology. RecoveR is a cloud-based booting technology that enables PCs to boot up to a recovery menu regardless of location.
HTTPS boot from UEFI
Current enterprise class systems from the major OEMs, like Dell, HP, Lenovo and Panasonic, have the capability to HTTPS boot directly from UEFI, eliminating the requirement for booting from USB flash drives.
RecoveR UEFI boot
Systems that are not capable of HTTPS booting can still leverage the technology by creating a UEFI boot option for RecoveR.
Boot to OS and VDI
Within minutes of booting to RecoveR, a PC can boot to an alternate OS that enables end users to connect to Windows 365 or other VDI technologies, allowing them to continue servicing customers or performing other business critical work.
In more detail
Once the critical work is finished, the PC can be repaired, or Windows can be re-installed. Using simple menus, this process can be completed by end users with or without guidance from the help desk team. Some repairs are quick and can be completed in minutes. If Windows needs to be reinstalled, the time it takes will vary based on the Internet or WAN connection and will depend on the availability of peers with content on the network.
Windows can be re-installed using a variety of technologies, like Configuration Manager OSD, PowerShell Deployment, OSDCloud, or even DeployR from 2Pint Software. Windows can be built for ‘cloud native’ and be ready to go through Autopilot, or it can also be installed to be joined to traditional Active Directory. The solution is flexible and ready to meet your business needs, wherever you are in your cloud journey.
Solution summary
Business critical systems are not just located in the data center. The PCs that drive essential day-to-day operations are equally critical to the business and need to be managed for high availability. The importance of this strategy has been reinforced by botched software updates across multiple industries and ransomware attacks on hospitals, schools, government agencies, and the private sector.
A disaster/recovery plan is of paramount importance and a robust process for executing that plan when the time comes is necessary. RecoveR makes the high availability PC a reality.
Learn more
Interested in high availability PC solutions from 2Pint Software?
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