Understanding Uptime On Your Dedicated Server

By Author: Mattie Blake
Total Articles: 2
Comment this article

When you're trying to find a web host that can offer you a dedicated server for you to run and store your website, you'll hear a lot about uptime. This is of course, the amount of time that your website is actually up and running, and can be seen and used by anyone who visits it. But there are a lot of conflicting thoughts out there about a server's uptime, and many of those searching for the right web host might not even realize just how important it is.

The first thing to realize is that no web host can actually offer 100% uptime on their servers, even on dedicated servers. This is because updates will need to be installed, maintenance will need to be performed, and for most of it, the server will at least need to be rebooted in order for those changes to take effect. Even though it's only for a few seconds, the server – and the website on it – will be shut down for that time.

Still, while you may not see a lot of "100% uptime" offers, you may still see packages that have 99.9%, 99.99%, or 99.999%. And while such a small fraction of a percentage point may not seem like a large difference, once you break ...
... down those numbers into real time, you can see just how much you really do need to pay attention to them.

Measuring uptime in this way is known as measuring it "in nines" with "three nines" being 99.9%. When you see this percentage, it means that the website will experience typically eight hours and 45 minutes of downtime per year. A web host however, that delivers "five nines", or 99.999%, downtime will translate into about five minutes of downtime per year. Think about your brick and mortar business being down for those lengths of time and it's the difference between your business being shut down for a day; or for five minutes while you step out to get lunch.

It's also important to note, even with these percentages, that many dedicated web hosts who offer only 99.9% uptime do so in order to protect themselves and provide a cushion against downtime they have no control over. Most web hosts that offer this percentage still rarely experience downtime on their servers.

Uptime really is the most important thing you can look for in a dedicated host, because without it your website simply cannot be visited, and that could mean lost revenue. If you've already signed up for a dedicated server and have found that your website is simply down far too much, speak first with your web host. It could be a problem with the server itself and might be a simple matter of switching. If that doesn't help though, it might be time to find a new dedicated web host; because you simply can't afford too much downtime.

About US
Omnis Network provides Web Hosting value and award winning web hosting. Get dedicated server and free domain with every web hosting purchase here.