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IguanaX HA Cloud Solutions

Overview​

This document describes how IguanaX High Availability (HA) can be implemented in public cloud environments using a simple Active-Passive HA architecture.

The goal is to help customers understand:

  • How IguanaX HA concepts map to cloud infrastructure

  • Which cloud-native services are typically involved

  • How failover and recovery behave in a cloud environment

This document is conceptual, not a step-by-step deployment guide.

Active-Passive HA in the Cloud​

The following diagram illustrates a reference Active-Passive IguanaX HA deployment that applies to both AWS and Azure.

Key Components:​

  • A single cloud region (AWS or Azure)

  • Two availability zones

  • One Active IguanaX instance

  • One Passive IguanaX instance

  • A shared cloud file system for logs and queues

  • A cloud-native load balancer handling inbound traffic

Although AWS and Azure use different service names, the HA behavior and guarantees are the same.

Cloud Architecture Review​

Network Boundary​

  • All components reside within a single VPC (AWS) or vNet (Azure)

  • Access is controlled using cloud-native security constructs

  • Inbound traffic enters through:

    • Internet Gateway (or equivalent)

    • Cloud Load Balancer

Load Balancer​

The load balancer sits in front of IguanaX and is responsible for:

  • Receiving inbound LLP and HTTP(S) traffic

  • Performing health checks on IguanaX instances

  • Routing traffic only to the Active IguanaX instance

The load balancer does not manage message recovery or sequencing—it only controls traffic routing.

IguanaX Application Layer​

Availability Zone A - Active IguanaX​

  • Runs the Active IguanaX instance

  • Processes all inbound messages

  • Writes logs and queue data to shared storage

  • Communicates with the Passive instance via heartbeat

Availability Zone B - Passive IguanaX​

  • Runs a Passive (hot-standby) IguanaX instance

  • Remains ON and fully initialized

  • Continuously monitors the Active instance

  • Has access to the same shared logs and queues

At any time, only one IguanaX instance is Active.

Shared Storage (EFS / Azure Files)​

A shared file system is used to store:

  • Message queues

  • IguanaX logs

  • Shared WorkingDir content required for recovery

Cloud Platform

Shared Storage Service

AWS

Amazon EFS

Azure

Azure Files

This shared storage is the key enabler for:

  • Queue recovery

  • Message sequencing

  • Seamless failover

AWS and Azure: Same Model, Different Services​

Although AWS and Azure use different terminology, the HA model remains the same.

Concept

AWS

Azure

Compute

EC2

Virtual Machines

Load Balancer

ALB / NLB

Azure Load Balancer

Shared Storage

EFS

Azure Files

Network

VPC

vNet

Availability Boundary

Availability Zones

Availability Zones

Customers should choose services based on platform familiarity and performance requirements, not HA behavior differences.

What This Cloud HA Design Guarantees​

  • Automatic failover within a region

  • Continuous availability of LLP and HTTP endpoints

  • Queue recovery and message sequencing

  • No single point of failure at the VM level

What This Cloud HA Design Does Not Guarantee​

  • Zero downtime during failover

  • Cross-region disaster recovery

  • Protection from application-level configuration errors

Cloud HA improves availability within a region, not across regions.

HA vs Cloud Disaster Recovery​

This architecture is designed for High Availability, not Disaster Recovery.

  • HA protects against instance or zone failures

  • DR protects against region-wide outages

Combining HA and DR into a single design (for example, spanning regions) is not recommended due to:

  • High latency

  • Complex global load balancing

  • Expensive cross-region storage replication

HA and DR should be designed separately.

Getting Started​

This document provides a conceptual reference for IguanaX Active-Passive HA in the cloud.

To design, validate, and deploy an IguanaX HA solution in AWS or Azure:

Our team can help you:

  • Validate cloud architecture

  • Size storage and compute correctly

  • Review HA assumptions and guarantees

  • Plan failover testing