IBM Tivoli Monitoring > Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2 > Installation Guides > High Availability Guide for Distributed Systems > The hot standby option > Use hot standby
IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2
Hub Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Servers
In a hot standby environment, there are two hub Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Servers, which both must be at the same IBM Tivoli Monitoring release levels. The configuration of each hub designates the other hub as the hot standby hub. At any given time, one of the two hub monitoring servers is operating as the hub. This server is referred to as the acting hub. The other hub monitoring server is in standby mode and is referred to as the standby hub. (See Figure 1.)
When the two hub monitoring servers are running, they continuously synchronize the data within their Enterprise Information Base. The Enterprise Information Base contains definition objects such as situations and policies, information about managed systems, and information about the distribution or assignment of situations and policies to managed systems. The hub Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Servers synchronize data within their Enterprise Information Base to enable the standby hub to take over the role of the acting hub whenever the acting hub becomes unavailable.
The two hub monitoring servers are symmetrical, but for reasons that are explained later, one hub monitoring server is designated as the primary hub and the other is designated as the secondary hub. While it is not necessary, you can designate as the primary hub the server that you expect to be the acting hub most of the time.
Note that the terms acting and standby refer to operational states, which can change over a period of time. The terms primary and secondary refer to configuration, which is relatively permanent.
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Use hot standby