Short answer is "It depends.".

Clustering (MS) requires virtually identical hardware. Real High
Availability solutions, like SteelEye's LifeKeeper will work with the
failover machine being lesser hardware. Our Exchange 5.5 setup, for
example, had a Dell Dimension workstation as the standby machine.

When you consider solutions, be sure to factor in the annual support
costs. They can, depending on the vendor, be considerable....

Regards,
Hank Arnold

wile2u@gmail.com wrote:
> i want to say this is a quick question, but it is probley not.
>
> we have one high end server (4 cpu dual core), and are considering a
> failover configuration.
>
> do both servers have to be high end servers, or can we use a lesser
> class of server ?
>
> i would like to any coments on this thanks
>