Fail Safe

Kind: principle

Layer: Correctness Core

Record: architecture:fail-safe

Severity: mandatory

Scope: runtime, operation, security

Canonical: Ontology

A design rule that a failing operation leaves the system in the state that causes the least harm.

Listed in Architecture principles, after Fail Fast and before Fail Secure.

Requires

• Safe Defaults

Reinforces

• Resilience

Enables

• Damage Limitation

Conflicts with

• Unsafe Default Continuation

In tension with

• Availability

Tensions

• Fail Safe / Availability

Violated by

• Unsafe Default Continuation

Refactored by

• Fallback Pattern
• Fail Fast or Fall Back

Severity

• mandatory

Category

• Error Handling / Resilience

Linked from

• Execution joins the halves
• Error Handling / Resilience
• Core Vocabulary
• Error Handling / Resilience
• Quality Attributes
• Severity levels
• The resolutions