Appliance and pair device for providing a reliable and redundant enterprise management solution

A system comprising an appliance disposed at a healthcare facility and a pair device disposed at a remote facility, wherein the appliance includes:

• first processing circuitry configured to enable execution of a plurality of applications;
• a first virtualization manager configured to virtualize at least storage components and an execution environment for at least some of the applications;
• and
• a first synchronizer configured to randomly provide for synchronization with the pair device, wherein the first synchronizer is further configured to install an additional application by replication of the additional application from the pair device, and
• wherein the pair device includes:
• second processing circuitry providing redundancy for the first processing circuitry;
• a second virtualization manager configured to provide redundancy with respect to the virtualized storage components and execution environment;
• and
• a second synchronizer configured to communicate with the first synchronizer to enable shifting of operations with respect to one of the applications being executed between the appliance and the pair device,
• wherein the appliance further includes an application monitor configured to monitor applications and hardware components for proper connectivity, wherein the application monitor is also configured to monitor at least one of the applications for proper operation and to detect a fault condition,
• wherein the first virtualization manager is configured to receive an indication of the fault condition from the application monitor and to perform different fault recovery procedures for a software failure than for a hardware fault with the virtualization manager configured to provide bootstrapping or rebooting in response to the software failure and to provide for migration of a virtual machine to different hardware of the pair device in response to the hardware fault, and
• wherein the second virtualization manager is configured to enable testing of the applications in an environment simulating the healthcare facility, prior to installation of the applications at the appliance.

A method comprising:

• providing an appliance disposed at a healthcare facility and providing a pair device disposed at a remote facility, wherein the appliance includes:
• first processing circuitry configured to enable execution of a plurality of applications;
• a first virtualization manager configured to virtualize at least storage components and an execution environment for at least some of the applications;
• a first synchronizer configured to randomly provide for synchronization with the pair device, wherein the first synchronizer is further configured to install an additional application by replication of the additional application from the pair device;
• and
• an application monitor configured to monitor applications and hardware components for proper connectivity, wherein the application monitor is also configured to monitor at least one of the applications for proper operation, and wherein the pair device includes:
• second processing circuitry providing redundancy for the first processing circuitry;
• a second virtualization manager configured to provide redundancy with respect to the virtualized storage components and execution environment;
• and
• a second synchronizer,
• detecting, with the application monitor, a fault condition with respect to operation of at least one of the applications;
• providing communication between the first synchronizer and the second synchronizer to enable shifting of operations with respect to one of the applications being executed between the appliance and the pair device;
• receiving, by the first virtualization manager, an indication of the fault condition from the application monitor;
• performing, by the first virtualization manager, different fault recovery procedures for a software failure than for a hardware fault with the virtualization manager configured to provide bootstrapping or rebooting in response to the software failure and to provide for migration of a virtual machine to different hardware of the pair device in response to the hardware fault;
• and
• enabling testing by at least one of the first or second virtualization managers, of the applications in an environment simulating the healthcare facility, prior to installation of the applications at the appliance.