A method and apparatus for configuring at least one component of a
plurality of components in a communications network are described. In one
embodiment, the at least one component is selected from a plurality of
components, wherein the plurality of components is situated at a common
location, such as server farm. Afterwards, the at least one component is
configured to predominantly support a first network function that is a
high availability function, while it is also configured to support at
least a second network function with only a limited portion (e.g., a low
percentage) of its total processing resources.