Application Resiliency vs. Infrastructure Resiliency: 10 Key Differences

Resiliency

In today’s digital world, resiliency is key to keeping IT systems running smoothly when unexpected issues arise. It’s about making sure apps and infrastructure can quickly recover from disruptions. This minimizes costly downtime and keeps the business on track. 

With businesses relying on digital platforms, even brief outages can be costly. They can cost up to $5600 per minute and over $300,000 per hour 1.

Companies can stay competitive by prioritizing resilient apps and infrastructure. It reduces risks and ensures operations run continuously. This blog will explore the application resiliency vs. infrastructure resiliency key differences. Both are vital for maximum uptime and reliability.

Application Resiliency vs. Infrastructure Resiliency: 10 Key Differences

Aspect Application Resiliency Infrastructure Resiliency
Definition Recovery from software disruptions Continuity of hardware and network
Focus Ensures app functionality Ensures system reliability
Scope of Impact Affects only the application Impacts multiple applications/systems
Monitoring and Management Managed with APM tools (e.g., Datadog) Managed with monitoring tools (e.g., Nagios)
Techniques Load balancing, auto-scaling Data replication, server clustering
Responsibility Handled by DevOps teams Managed by IT infrastructure teams
Response to Failures Self-healing, real-time adjustments Reactive systems, backup supplies
Cost Generally lower due to software solutions Higher due to physical resource needs
Scalability Easily scalable with cloud resources Harder due to physical limitations
Performance Impact Minimal impact during failures Greater impact on overall performance

Let’s discuss the difference between application resiliency vs. infrastructure resiliency. 

1. Definition and Focus

Based on their definition and focus, let’s discuss application resiliency vs infrastructure resiliency. 

Application Resiliency

It is about apps recovering from software disruptions. It ensures continuity. A classic example of application resiliency is Netflix’s chaos engineering approach. Netflix runs thousands of microservices in the cloud using Chaos Monkey. This tool randomly shuts down their microservice instances. 

It forces the app to reroute traffic and recover without impacting users. This ensures that Netflix’s apps are resilient. They can keep working, even with disruptions in the infrastructure.

Infrastructure Resiliency

It focuses on the hardware and network layers. It ensures that servers, storage, and networks can keep running despite failures.  

During the 2020 global lockdown, AWS saw a 37% rise in cloud usage. Their resilient infrastructure caused no major outages. This proved their multi-region failover systems worked. With its Chaos Monkey tool, Netflix randomly shuts down instances to test application resiliency. 

2. Scope of Impact

Let’s explore how application and infrastructure resiliency differ in scope. 

Application Resiliency

It usually affects only the app. A failure may disrupt specific features or services, but the application as a whole continues to function. The goal is to isolate failures and ensure they don’t cascade across the system.

Consider an ecommerce platform where the payment gateway temporarily fails. Application resiliency lets users browse products and add them to their carts. But they can only check out after some time.

Infrastructure Resiliency

It impacts multiple applications and systems. If infrastructure fails, like a server crash or network outage, it can shut down apps or an entire business, depending on the severity. In 2021,  Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major outage in its US-East-1 region, affecting various services and businesses. 

3. Techniques and Strategies

Here are the techniques and strategies of application vs infrastructure resiliency. 

Application Resiliency 

Application resiliency ensures that apps handle traffic spikes and failures smoothly. Key techniques include 

  • Load balancing like NGINX or AWS ELB to distribute traffic.
  • Auto-scaling with tools like AWS EC2  to adjust resources based on demand 
  • circuit breakers to isolate failing components. 
  • Health checks monitor system health. 
  • Failover systems ensure backup activation during failures. 
  • Data backups support recovery after disasters.

Infrastructure Resiliency

Infrastructure resiliency strategies can be implemented to keep data and Infrastructure running smoothly. Here are some key methods for enhancing resiliency:

  • Use tools like MySQL replication or Amazon RDS Multi-AZ to keep data available across multiple locations.
  • Platforms like Kubernetes or Apache Hadoop distribute workloads over multiple servers. This helps boost performance and fault tolerance.
  • Host data in multiple regions using services like AWS Global Infrastructure to ensure access across locations.
  • Equip data centers with redundant power supplies to avoid interruptions.
  • Set up automatic failover systems that switch to backups during power or server failures, ensuring continuous operations.

These methods help maintain smooth and reliable infrastructure performance.

Also, read Mastering Backup and Recovery Strategies for Staked Assets on Servers

4. Responsibility

Let’s dive into who is responsible for resiliency.

Application Resiliency 

Developers and DevOps teams are responsible for app resiliency. They must ensure the software can handle disruptions and recover quickly from failures. 

Infrastructure Resiliency 

IT infrastructure teams manage infrastructure resiliency. They ensure that servers, storage, and networks stay operational despite failures. 

5. Response to Failures

Let’s look at how application resiliency vs infrastructure resiliency handles failures.

Application Resiliency

It focuses on managing failures. It uses self-healing apps and auto-scaling. These systems detect issues and adjust in real time. This ensures minimal service disruption, with no need for human intervention. 

Infrastructure Resiliency 

It relies on reactive systems. These include backup power supplies, server failover, and network rerouting. They activate once a failure is detected. 

6. Costs and Resource Allocation

Let’s explore the differences based on cost and resource allocation. 

Application Resiliency 

Application resiliency is often cheaper. It mainly uses software solutions like load balancing, error handling, and dynamic scaling. The main costs are associated with development and cloud resource management.

Infrastructure Resiliency

Infrastructure resiliency often costs more. It requires physical resources like backup servers, power supplies, and network redundancies. This setup is stable but requires big hardware, maintenance, and operations investment.

7. Scalability

Here is how both application vs. infrastructure resilience scales 

Application Resiliency 

It is scalable with cloud resources. It lets apps add or remove instances based on demand. This ensures peak performance during high-traffic times. 

Infrastructure Resiliency 

Scaling infrastructure resiliency is more challenging.  It involves physical resources like servers and networking equipment.

Also read Smooth Sailing to the Cloud: Mastering Lift and Shift Migration [18-point Migration Checklist Inside].

8. Monitoring and Management

Let’s discuss the difference between application and infrastructure resiliency based on their monitoring and management capabilities. 

Application resiliency

It is best managed with APM tools like Datadog and New Relic. These tools track application health in real-time. They send alerts for performance issues, allowing teams to respond proactively. 

For example, Peloton uses Datadog to monitor performance metrics. It ensures their platform works during peak demand.

Infrastructure resiliency 

It is managed with monitoring tools like Nagios and Zabbix to monitor hardware, server uptime, and network performance. 

For example, Red Hat uses Nagios for monitoring its cloud and server infrastructure, providing immediate alerts if performance deviates from expected thresholds. This allows teams to address issues and avoid costly downtime proactively.

9. Performance Impact

Let’s explore how application resilience vs infrastructure resiliency affects performance:

Application resiliency 

It minimizes the performance impact during software failures. It does this by quickly rerouting traffic or restarting services. This protects the user experience and prevents widespread downtime.

Infrastructure resiliency

It affects the overall system’s performance. Infrastructure failure can disrupt multiple services, causing a greater impact. However, resiliency strategies can help it recover quickly.

10. Focus on Business Continuity

Let’s explore how application and infrastructure resiliency support business continuity. 

Application resiliency

It ensures apps run without disruption, even during failures. It maintains the user-facing experience.

Infrastructure Resiliency

It ensures the business stays operational. It keeps the critical infrastructure for all apps and services running despite any hardware or network failures.

Conclusion

Both application and infrastructure resiliency are vital. They ensure business continuity in today’s digital world. Companies can minimize downtime and losses during disruptions. They should invest in strong resiliency strategies. This will protect user experiences. 

Application resiliency focuses on software recovery. Infrastructure resiliency ensures the underlying systems stay operational. They form a complete approach to managing risks. It helps businesses adapt quickly and stay competitive in a digital world.

Ensure your business continuity with RedSwitches. Our resilient infrastructure solutions minimize downtime, protect user experiences and smooth operations. Invest in a strategy that safeguards your applications and systems. 

FAQs

  1. What is application resiliency?
    Application resiliency is an app’s ability to recover quickly from disruptions. It must remain functional and user-friendly. It involves techniques such as redundancy and load balancing to minimize downtime.
  2. What is the difference between application and infrastructure?
    Application refers to software programs that users interact with directly, like email or web apps. Infrastructure is the underlying IT framework, including servers, networks, and storage, that supports applications and ensures they function smoothly.
  3. What is infrastructure resiliency?
    Infrastructure resiliency is an IT system’s ability to stay operational and recover quickly from hardware or network failures. It uses strategies like data replication and server clustering.
  4. What is the difference between the application level and the infrastructure level?
    The application level deals with software and its uptime. The infrastructure level concerns the hardware and networks that support those apps. It ensures system reliability.
  5. What is the difference between application and infrastructure support?
    Application support involves maintaining software for peak performance. Infrastructure support focuses on the reliability and upkeep of the hardware and network.
  6. What are the two primary types of IT infrastructure?
    The two primary types of IT infrastructure are:
    Physical Infrastructure: Hardware components like servers and storage.
    Virtual Infrastructure: Virtual resources such as virtual machines and cloud services.
  7. What are the four pillars of infrastructure?
    The four pillars of infrastructure are:
    Computing: Processing power from servers and data centers.
    Storage: Solutions for data storage like databases.
    Networking: Connectivity components for communication.
    Security: Measures to protect infrastructure and data
  8. Is OS considered infrastructure?
    Yes, an OS is part of the infrastructure. It manages hardware and runs applications.
  9. What are the three primary components of infrastructure?
    The three primary components of the infrastructure are:
    Hardware: Physical devices such as servers and networking equipment.
    Software: Operating systems and applications.
    Networking: Communication pathways for data transfer.
  10. What is ICT infrastructure?
    ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure combines hardware, software, networks, and services. It enables the processing, storage, and transmission of data. It facilitates digital interactions and operations.

Reference: The Cost of Major IT Downtime

Hafsa Saim

As a seasoned content writer passionate about technology, I've spent the past five years crafting engaging and informative content that bridges the gap between complex technical concepts and everyday understanding. With a deep understanding of hosting and cloud solutions, I specialize in creating content that resonates with industry experts and non-technical persons. I aim to empower readers with valuable insights and practical guidance in the ever-evolving world of technology.

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