High Availability - The Issue

For all but the smallest of organizations, business is no longer a manual process. Computing systems play an increasing role. In some eBusinesses, there may be no human involvement at all. Automating vital processes can significantly reduce costs and elevate efficiencies, but it introduces a serious threat: If your system goes down, your business stops.

More than ever, High Availability of applications and data is a no-exceptions condition of business success. Unexpected downtime is dramatic. It may be the result of a catastrophe, such as a fire, flood, earthquake or other natural disaster. Even if the cause is more mundane - operator error, disk failure, processor problems - the event may occur when the business can least afford it, thereby resulting in untold financial havoc. In fact, since some system crashes result from overload conditions, they are somewhat more likely to occur when they will cause the most financial damage.

Calling these events “unexpected” is somewhat misleading. Given enough time, every company will experience something unpredictable that shuts down one or more servers. It’s not just likely; it is inevitable. Only the timing and precise nature of unplanned downtime are unexpected.