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Downtime and Web Hosting

Overview

The opposite of server uptime is server downtime. It is the condition that is expressed in percentile that refers to the proportion of time that hosting service is unavailable or "down."

In a web hosting environment, system downtime may constitute a lot of things. It may be indicative of disconnection of a server from the network, or powered down. It could also mean that an HTTP service is shut down, thus resulting in the unavailability of web serving.

Scheduled and Unscheduled Downtimes

Scheduled downtime is anticipated and is a common event among service providers. It allows them to undertake anticipated essential system maintenance that might otherwise interrupt service to their customers. Since this downtime is an anticipated event the web hosting provider is able to make alternative arrangements with customers to ensure business continuity.

The event that concerns as more is the unscheduled downtime. Causes of this may include network failures within the infrastructure provider or due to serious software failure within the system.

Based on previous incidents, software failure is the most common cause of unscheduled downtime. This may involve failure in the operating systems or in the application level.

Effects of Downtime on E-Commerce

For companies who have a dedicated e-commerce in the revenue portfolio, downtime costs are staggering. The direct and indirect damage that this can bring to the company are simply enormous. Website availability is a vital component not only for direct sales but on the other aspects of their business operations like customer service, after sales promotion, product launching, etc. Industry experts pegged the cost of downtime on business at around $1000 per hour. But the real cost would not be exactly determined as indirect cost on lost opportunities and effect on business image and credibility could be exactly ascertained.

Downtime Monitoring System

Most web hosting service providers offer a 99 percent uptime for the web servers that they have. This is just saying that they are expecting 1 downtime means that you business will be off the grid for a total of 7.2 hours in a year. You have to decide if you can live with that. Further, you should also remember that this downtime only refers to the hosting server and not for the entire system.

For companies doing online business, moving their online operations in-house could be a good idea. However, it might be too heavy on the financial side as the financial requirement to set up the infrastructure would be too high.

The next best thing that web hosting clients can do is to have a couple of monitoring reports available for the downtime of their web host. There are a lot of positive aspects of having the downtime of your web host monitored by a third party. This is a tool for you to be sure that your investment in web hosting is money well-spent and that your business would be up and running at all times.

It also is also an added value to the service of the web host. By placing the links of the third parties which monitor their downtimes, it assures their customers of quality service.

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