What is Fail-soft?

The design concept of isolating the failed part when part of a system fails and keeping the system as a whole operating, even with reduced function or performance. An example is a system in which several servers share the processing and the rest continue processing when one fails.

Japanese name: フェールソフト

Fail-soft appears in 2 practice questions across 1 topic, including System Architecture and Reliability.

Field: System Architecture and Reliability

Try it: questions about Fail-soft

Which is an example of a design based on the fail-soft concept?

  1. AWhen a failure is detected, the equipment is put into a safe state and stopped
  2. BOperating procedures and the shapes of parts are designed so that incorrect operation is impossible
  3. CIn a system where four servers share the processing, when one server fails the remaining three continue processing, though with reduced capacity
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. In a system where four servers share the processing, when one server fails the remaining three continue processing, though with reduced capacity

Fail-soft is the idea that when part of a system fails, the failed part is isolated and the system as a whole keeps operating, even with reduced function or performance. Continuing processing on the remaining three servers with reduced capacity when one of four fails is an example. Stopping on the safe side when a failure occurs is fail-safe, and preventing incorrect operation is fool-proofing.

Fail-soft in the explanations

Questions that mention Fail-soft (2)

  1. Which is an example of a design based on the fail-soft concept?
  2. In semiconductor manufacturing equipment, normally closed gas supply valves that open with air pressure are used, so that if a power outage or a loss of compressed air occurs, the valves close and the supply of hazardous gas stops. Which design concept is this?

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Related terms

Fail-safe Differential backup Dual system Duplex system Fault tolerance Fool-proof Hot standby Incremental backup Load balancer RAID

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