Active-Passive Architecture
Active-Passive Architecture is a high-availability design pattern where two or more identical systems are deployed, with one system (the active node) handling all production traffic and the other(s) (passive node(s)) remaining on standby. The passive nodes continuously synchronize data from the active node and are ready to take over immediately if the active node fails, ensuring minimal downtime. This architecture is commonly used in critical systems like databases, web servers, and network infrastructure to provide fault tolerance and disaster recovery.
Developers should learn and use Active-Passive Architecture when building systems that require high availability and reliability, such as financial services, healthcare applications, or e-commerce platforms where downtime can lead to significant revenue loss or safety risks. It is particularly valuable in scenarios with strict uptime requirements (e.g., 99.99% SLA) or where data consistency and failover speed are critical, as it provides a simple and effective way to implement redundancy without the complexity of load balancing across multiple active nodes.