At AllianceTek, we have developed an AI Database Chatbot for a client that requires a high level of availability. By implementing Azure Cloud Hosting and utilizing the powerful Azure Site Recovery service, we created a disaster recovery (DR) system that allows the continuation of business operations.
This system is constantly replicating Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) across regions and offers an automatic failover solution in the event of an outage. In this post, we will go deeper into the details of the project, discussing the technologies applied, the special features of the disaster recovery solution that we incorporated, and the potential advantages and further uses of this solution.
Technological Stack and Development
In this project, we used a combination of Azure services that offered elasticity, fault tolerance, and performance. The key technologies involved include:
# Azure Cloud Hosting
The Azure cloud platform was the foundation of our project’s solution. The application was successfully deployed, managed, and scaled using the strong IaaS of Azure Cloud Hosting. Azure’s global data centers provide flexibility that makes it easy for applications to scale horizontally and vertically depending on the traffic load.
The geographical coverage of Azure was a key factor that made it easy to implement a disaster recovery plan. The multiple regions available enabled us to design a system where resources were duplicated geographically to ensure that if one region was down, the other would still have the resources.
# Azure Site Recovery for Business Continuity
Another interesting component of the project was the use of Azure Site Recovery (ASR) for disaster recovery. ASR is an Azure native service that helps maintain business continuity by replicating VMs from one Azure region to another. This means if a failure occurs in the primary region, VMs can be moved over to a secondary region, thus minimizing the downtime.
The key processes in ASR that we utilized include:
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Sustained replication of VMs between the primary and secondary regions.
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Failover and failback mechanisms enabled the AI database chatbot to transition from one region to another without any disruption of service.
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App-consistent snapshots and crash-consistent snapshots to make sure application data and OS state are saved during failover.
# Unique Technology: Disaster Recovery with Recovery Services Vault
Although most hosting solutions come with rudimentary backup features, we incorporated a more robust disaster recovery solution through Azure Recovery Services Vault. This service offers a safe and efficient means of storing the recovery points and handling the general disaster recovery process.
Azure Recovery Services Vault allowed us to configure and manage:
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Recovery point objectives, specify how often recovery points are created, including application-consistent snapshots for databases and other applications.
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Retention policies are used to keep the data for further utilization and analysis while considering storage expenses.
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Multiple VMs, where several VMs contain interrelated applications, must be capable of failing over while preserving data coherence.
Disaster Recovery as Implemented in the Project
The key to our project’s disaster recovery solution is the replication of Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) on an ongoing basis. The architecture is designed so that any modifications on the VMs in the primary region are mirrored in real-time and backed up in the secondary region. This offers nearly real-time availability of the applications and services in case of a failure in the primary area.
The process can be broken down into several key steps:
# Continuous Replication
Azure Site Recovery tracks every write operation on the disks of the VMs in the source region and replicates it in the secondary region. This is done through the Mobility service extension which is pre-installed on the VMs and handles replication.
# Cache Storage
Before replication data is sent to the target region, the data is first written to a cache storage account in the primary region. This helps avoid situations where the production workload is affected by the replication process. The cached data is then transferred to the target storage account in the secondary region so that applications are not impacted in case of failover.
# Failover
When there is an outage in the primary region, Azure Site Recovery will trigger the failover process on its own. The VMs are created in the secondary region by using the replicated data, and the applications run from this region until the primary region is back online.
# Failback
When the primary region becomes available, the system can also perform a failback. In this process, modifications made to the VMs in the secondary region are propagated back to the primary region, which enables the application to be restored to its initial state without any data loss.
AI Database Chatbot Implementation
A key component of this AI Database Chatbot is designed to allow users to interact with databases using natural language. The chatbot processes user queries and returns the requested data in a tabular format directly from the database. By integrating with MS SQL Server and utilizing advanced language models like GPT-4 via OpenAI API, the chatbot ensures accurate and up-to-date information retrieval.
The AI Database Chatbot consists of several interconnected components:
- User Interface (UI): The front-end chatbot interface where users input their queries.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engine: Utilizes the GPT-4 model to process and understand user queries.
- Query Parser: Translates natural language queries into SQL queries.
- Database Connector: Facilitates communication between the chatbot and the MS SQL Server.
- Response Formatter: Converts the retrieved data into a tabular format and sends it back to the user.
Here are the key features of the AI Database Chatbot:
- Natural Language Querying: Users can input queries in natural language, and the chatbot interprets and processes these queries.
- Tabular Data Presentation: The chatbot presents retrieved data in a tabular format for ease of understanding and analysis.
- Real-time Database Access: Direct integration with MS SQL Server ensures real-time data retrieval.
- User-Friendly Interface: The chatbot interface is intuitive and easy to use for users of all technical levels.
Advantages of Implementing Azure for Disaster Recovery
In addition to the failover and failback options, the project will derive the following benefits from the use of Azure Site Recovery. Below are some of the key advantages:
# Continuous Replication
Azure Site Recovery enables continuous replication, which means that data is always current in the secondary region. This significantly minimizes the RTO and RPO so that the chatbot can quickly regain operation without much interruption.
# Global Reach and Scalability
With Azure, we were able to use multiple regions in different continents that the company has established. This not only gives geographical diversity but also guarantees that data will always be accessible, irrespective of regional problems or blackouts.
# Seamless Failover and Failback
The failover and failback process is very smooth, and Azure Site Recovery handles all the processes automatically. This helps to minimize the amount of time that people spend handling the system during crucial times, thus guaranteeing that the chatbot continues to function regardless of the level of disruption.
# Cost-Efficiency
Azure follows a pay-as-you-go model of pricing, which means that the chatbot can expand its disaster recovery solution as it wishes without worrying about the costs. Through fine-tuning replication policies and retention periods, we were able to ensure that we had a highly efficient and cost-effective solution to the problem of data protection.
# High Availability and Reliability
Azure offers primary/secondary redundancy through availability zones and availability sets built into the platform. This makes sure that whenever a physical data center is down, the application can still be up and running.
Possible Use of Azure Site Recovery
As for this project, it could be considered a success of the Azure Site Recovery, but the number of possible applications for this service is much broader. Below are some potential future use cases:
# Web Hosting for All Kinds of Companies
Azure’s disaster recovery features can be useful to any company that uses cloud hosting. From a small e-commerce website to a large SaaS platform, Azure Site Recovery can offer the required failover functionality to avoid significant downtime.
# Healthcare and Finance
Large businesses in the healthcare and finance sectors can use Azure Site Recovery to address compliance needs while keeping key applications running.
# Manufacturing and Supply Chain
For industries where system unavailability can lead to huge losses, Azure Site Recovery can help to maintain system availability in the event of an outage.
Conclusion
The project demonstrates how Azure Cloud Hosting and Azure Site Recovery can be used together to provide an efficient and cost-effective disaster recovery solution. By integrating advanced AI capabilities into this project, such as the AI Database Chatbot, and leveraging Azure's robust infrastructure, we ensured that users have continuous access to real-time data through natural language queries, even during disruptions. Through the replication of VMs and the use of Azure’s geographical locations, we developed a solution that can guarantee business uptime.
If you want to discuss the details of creating a similar disaster recovery solution, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Call us at 484-892-5713 or Contact Us today to know more details about how we implemented Azure Cloud hosting with disaster recovery in payment Web App?
