vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection Levels

This product protects the vCenter Server by two instances, one of them send alive messages (basically pings) over the VMware Channel, and in case of failure, initiating and automatic switchover.

The 5 levels protected by Hearbeat are:


-Server Protection – vCenter Server Heartbeat provides continuous availability to end users through a
hardware failure scenario or operating system crash. Additionally, vCenter Server Heartbeat ensures
users are provided with a replica server should the production server fail.

-Network Protection – vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors the network by polling up to three
predefined nodes to ensure that the active server is visible on the network.

-Application Protection – vCenter Server Heartbeat maintains the application environment ensuring that
applications and services stay alive and available on the network.

-Performance Protection – vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors system performance attributes
to ensure the system administrator is notified of problems. Additionally, it can be configured to take

-Data Protection – vCenter Server Heartbeat intercepts all data written by users and applications, and
maintains a copy of the data on the passive server that can be used in the event of a failure.