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The Power of High Availability: Understanding 6 9s and Its Impact on Your Product Team
When it comes to software products or websites, availability is key to their success. A service that’s not available when customers need it can lead to a significant loss of opportunity for organizations. For some, any level of unavailability can be catastrophic, making high availability a top priority.
What is 6 9s Availability?
System, database, or application availability is measured as a percentage of time that the service is available over a period of time, often referred to as “uptime.” 6 9s refers to the delivery of availability at a rate of 99.9999 percent, equivalent to no more than 31.5 seconds of unavailability per year.
The Difference Between 3 9s, 4 9s, 5 9s, and 6 9s
While 6 9s may seem like a small improvement over 5 9s or 4 9s, the difference is significant. 5 9s relates to an availability rate of 99.999 percent, equivalent to 5.26 minutes of downtime per year. 4 9s relates to an availability rate of 99.99 percent, equivalent to 52.6 minutes of downtime per year. Meanwhile, 3 9s relates to an availability rate of 99.9 percent, equivalent to 8.76 hours of downtime per year. The difference between 99.9 percent and 99.9999 percent availability is substantial, with the latter allowing for only 31.5 seconds of downtime per year compared to nearly 9 hours.
Why Product Managers Should Care About 6 9s Availability
In today’s 24/7 connected world, businesses need to operate around the clock. This means that many different services become mission-critical, making the reliability of all systems essential for operation. Any service interruptions can have a negative impact on the business, so organizations seek to enable resiliency to prevent downtime and quickly recover from costly failures or outages.
The Impact of Aiming for 6 9s Availability
While aiming for the highest possible level of availability may seem obvious, maintaining 99.9999 percent availability comes at a cost. Equipment, networks, and monitoring need to receive significant investment to ensure that all system components remain operational at all times. This includes investing in high-quality equipment, backup power supplies, multiple network communication methods, automated monitoring, and fully automated disaster recovery processes.
Determining the Right Level of Availability for Your Product
While 100 percent availability is the ideal, it’s unrealistic to expect that nothing will go wrong over the course of a year. Instead, product managers should determine what level of access to their systems their customers actually need and calculate the cost of maintaining that level of availability versus the cost of unavailability. By understanding the needs of their customers and the costs involved, product managers can make informed decisions about the level of availability that’s right for their product.
The Bottom Line
As a product manager, it’s essential to understand the different levels of availability and how they impact your product and customers. While 6 9s availability may be ideal, it’s crucial to consider the cost and determine what level of availability is necessary for your product. By prioritizing resources effectively and making informed decisions, you can ensure that your product is available when your customers need it most.