Final answer:
Failover clustering is a high-availability technology that supports both stateful applications, which maintain user or transaction state, and stateless applications, which do not maintain session information.
Step-by-step explanation:
Failover clustering is a technology used to increase the availability and reliability of server deployments by connecting multiple servers in such a way that if one server fails, another can immediately take over the tasks of the failed server, thus maintaining service continuity. There are two types of applications supported by failover clustering:
- Stateful applications: These applications maintain a state or session information across user interactions. For example, database management systems like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle RAC are stateful, as they need to preserve data integrity and transactions across failures.
- Stateless applications: These applications do not maintain any internal state between user sessions. A good example would be a stateless web server cluster that simply serves static content without track of sessions.
In creating a failover cluster, both these types of applications can be configured to ensure minimal disruption in service in the event of a server failure.