Learn about configuration for interfaces and buffering services in a collective

To implement HA, configure interfaces to support failover and n-way buffering. Failover ensures that time-series data reaches PI Server even if one interface fails; n-way buffering ensures that identical time-series data reaches each PI Server in a collective. To support failover, install a redundant copy of an interface on a separate computer. When one interface is unavailable, the redundant interface automatically starts collecting, buffering, and sending data to PI Server. To support n-way buffering, configure the buffering service on interface computers to queue data independently to each PI Server in a collective.

In some deployments, interfaces send outputs (that is, data from PI Server) to the data source. With proper configuration, failover considers the availability of PI Server for outputs in addition to the availability of the interface.