== link:index.html[Index] -> link:modules.html[Modules] -> link:modules_balancers.html[Balancers]

Balancer: Failover
------------------

This balancer type is intended to provided a failover or backup server
to fulfill requests only during failure of the machine(s) in the
backend pool.

This balancer is very useful when the tendency is to use single
backends to accomodate an existing code base using tracking sessions,
log-ins, etc. In such scenarios, just-in-case balancing might be
required for situations where the main application server fails.

If multiple entries are defined, the requests will be serverd through
the first one on the list. When a failure is detected, Cherokee will
kick requests to the next entry on the list for processing. Upon the
application server returning, Cherokee will resume sending traffic to
the original main backend application server for processing.

The only thing needed to configure this balancer is a list of
link:config_info_sources.html[information sources]. At least one must
be selected in order for this to work.