Fault-Tolerant Computing—Concepts and Examples

This paper presents a brief history of fault-tolerant computing. This is followed by a survey of architectural approaches to fault-tolerant design, emphasizing the basic concepts employed in the design of these systems, and the tradeoffs and alternatives available to the system designer in attempting to meet applications requirements. Classes of fault-tolerance applications are identified, along with design approaches which are applicable, and several problem areas are identified in which new research results are badly needed.