What availability could or should I expect for a dedicated server? Currently my dedicated shows the following network statistics:

December: 99.78% 1.6 h
January: 98.6% 10 h
Febrary: 99.72% 2 h
March: 96.8% 23 h so far

Of course, March is an disaster, but I still hope it is an exception. I am seriously considering changing host, but what availability is reasonable to expect?

/len

It depends what the hosts guarantees are. If they say 99.9999%, then you should expect that. If they say 75%, then your shouldn't be with that host!

Ideally, you would like your server up 100%, but in reality, after minor outages, this should be close to 99% or higher.

Not counting maintenance windows, you should shoot for somewhere between 99% and 99.9% uptime.

If I go with one of the major ones, VDI, Alabanza, Burst etc., what could I expect. What are your experiences? Do they deliver 99.5%?

/len

[Edited by leat on 03-26-2001 at 03:26 PM]

That's hard to say. If they advertise it, and they do not deliver, then you are entitled to compensation somehow. Each host has their own way of dealing with it, so you must ask them individually.

The longer you have been around the easier it is to deliver higher levels of uptime...because you have a longer time frame in wich to incorporate outages.

I don't know how many hosts can give you this information, but one strategy you might want to try is to ask a prospective host:

What is your uptime for the past month?
What is your uptime for the past 6 months?
What is your uptime for the past year?

This should give you an idea about how well they are doing. OF course I don't have any idea whether or not a host will give you this information -- or if they even track it.

As to VDI, Alabanza, and Burst, I don't have any personal experience so I can't say for sure, but I would imagine they are all pretty close to that number (not withstanding VDI's recent outages).

Originally posted by uuallan
This should give you an idea about how well they are doing. OF course I don't have any idea whether or not a host will give you this information -- or if they even track it.I wouldn't expect that many hosts do keep track of those stats to the point that they could accurately report it to you (assuming that the would. If you ask those questions you might get an answer, but I'd have little or no confidence in the accuracy of that answer.

But most of the major providers do guarantee 99.9% or something close to it because they are pretty confident that in most months they'll deliver it.