Redundant controllers or input-output gateways without dedicated hardware

1. A method of fault-tolerant process control, comprising:

providing a network process control system in an industrial processing facility (IPF) comprising a plant-wide network coupling at least one server to a plurality of computing platforms each including computing hardware and memory hosting at least one software application for simultaneously supporting a process controller and another process controller or an input/output (I/O) gateway, the computing platforms coupled together by a private path redundancy network for providing a hardware resource pool;

wherein at least some of the plurality of computing platforms are directly coupled by an input/output (I/O) mesh network to plurality of I/O devices to field devices that are coupled to processing equipment;

detecting at least one failing device in the hardware resource pool, and

utilizing the private path redundancy network, placing into service as a backup for the failing device the another process controller or the I/O gateway that is at a different one of the plurality of computing platforms.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placing into service is performed automatically.

3. A method of claim 1 , where the another process controller or the another I/O gateway provides another mission as a process controller or as an I/O gateway both immediately before and after the placing into service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms support exclusively the process controllers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms collectively support both the process controllers and the I/O gateways.

6. The method of claim 1 , where a speed of the private path redundancy network is greater than a speed of the plant-wide network.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing an initial synchronization after the placing in service, and then a slower synchronization compared to the initial synchronization to transfer a complete database in an atomic fashion while running as the backup.

8. A computer platform arrangement for a network process control system in an industrial processing facility (IPF), comprising:

a plurality of computing platforms each comprising computing hardware and memory hosting at least one software application for simultaneously supporting a process controller and another process controller or an input/output (I/O) gateway;

a private path redundancy network coupling together a plurality of computing platforms to provide a hardware resource pool;

wherein upon detecting at least one a failing device in the hardware resource pool of a first of the plurality of process controllers or a first of the I/O gateway, over the private path redundancy network placing into service as a backup for the failing device the another process controller or the I/O gateway that is at different one of the plurality of computing platforms.

9. The computer platform arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the placing into service is performed automatically.

10. The computer platform arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms are exclusive of any dedicated secondary hardware.

11. The computer platform arrangement of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of computing platforms provides a backup for a different one of the plurality of computing platforms.

12. The computer platform arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms collectively support both the process controllers and the I/O gateways.

13. The computer platform arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms support exclusively the process controllers.

14. A fault-tolerant network process control system in an industrial processing facility (IPF), comprising:

a plant-wide network coupling at least one server to a computer platform arrangement comprising a plurality of computing platforms each including computing hardware and memory hosting at least one software application for simultaneously supporting a process controller and another process controller or an input/output (I/O) gateway, the computing platforms coupled together by a private path redundancy network for providing a hardware resource pool;

wherein at least some of the plurality of computing platforms are directly coupled by an input/output (I/O) mesh network to plurality of I/O devices to field devices that are coupled to processing equipment,

wherein the computer platform arrangement is configured for:

detecting at least one failing device in the hardware resource pool, and

utilizing the private path redundancy network to place into service as a backup for the failing device the another process controller or the I/O gateway that is at a different one of the plurality of computing platforms.

15. The control system of claim 14 , wherein the placing into service is performed automatically.

16. The control system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms are exclusive of any dedicated secondary hardware.

17. The control system of claim 14 , wherein each of the plurality of computing platforms provides a backup for another of the plurality of computing platforms.

18. The control system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of computing platforms collectively support both the process controllers and the I/O gateways.