It is an unfortunate fact that every single website in existence is vulnerable to website downtime. Because at least some downtime is inevitable, the question is not whether or not your site will go down, but rather how much downtime is too much? Is there a magic number that we should be aware of? Is there a line that, once your website has crossed it, you are suddenly in “too much downtime” territory? The fact of the matter is that there is no magic number to guide us. There are, however, ways to determine if your site is experiencing more than its fair share of downtime and practices you can put into place to ensure that your site never enters the “too much downtime” zone.

1. How Much Downtime is Too Much?
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Davis J martin
Writer at Alertra, writes on
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2. It is an unfortunate fact that every single website in existence is
vulnerable to website downtime. Because at least some downtime is
inevitable, the question is not whether or not your site will go down, but
rather how much downtime is too much? Is there a magic number that
we should be aware of? Is there a line that, once your website has
crossed it, you are suddenly in “too much downtime” territory? The fact
of the matter is that there is no magic number to guide us. There are,
however, ways to determine if your site is experiencing more than its
fair share of downtime and practices you can put into place to ensure
that your site never enters the “too much downtime” zone.
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3. Understanding the Difference Between Planned Downtime and
Unplanned Downtime
When determining whether or not your site has become prone to
unacceptable levels of downtime, you first have to understand that
there are two different types of downtime including planned downtime
and unplanned downtime. Planned downtime occurs due to things like
maintenance and upgrades of firmware, hardware, drivers, and
software. All sites will experience planned downtime at some point in
time. The good news is that when downtime is planned, you can
minimize damage by scheduling the downtime during a period when it
will have little to no impact on your business. Because you do have
some control over the impact of planned downtime, it becomes evident
that the problem is really with unplanned downtime when trying to
avoid too much downtime.
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4. Unplanned downtime is very different in nature from planned downtime.
It is almost impossible to anticipate, harder to manage, and can be
caused by a vast number of factors. Some of the things that commonly
contribute to unplanned downtime include component failures, human
errors, software glitches, power outages, and even natural disasters.
Anything that could cause your site to go down unexpectedly is an
unplanned downtime risk.
The Real Answer to The Question
Because there are so many tools at your disposal that can help you
prevent website downtime and minimize the impact downtime has on
your business, the real answer to the question of “how much downtime
is too much” is simple. Any amount of unnecessary downtime that your
site experiences is too much. If there are steps you could have taken to
minimize your website’s downtime and you did not take those steps,
then your site is indeed experiencing too much downtime. So what can
you do to minimize your site’s downtime and stay out of the “too much
downtime” zone? 4 out of
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5. Utilize a Reliable Website Hosting Provider
If you are not hosting your website on your own servers, the first thing
you need to do to minimize downtime is to ensure that you are hosting
your website with a reliable hosting provider. Most hosting companies
offer some form of an uptime guarantee and they advertise that
guaranteed uptime in the form of a percentage. To determine whether
or not the uptime being offered by a hosting provider is acceptable, you
need to take that percentage and turn it into tangible time. This allows
you to determine exactly how much time you can expect your site to be
down due to unplanned downtime each year, as these guarantees only
apply to unplanned downtime and do not apply to instances of planned
downtime.
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6. Once you begin turning uptime percentages into hours, you will
suddenly realize just how significant the difference in uptime
guarantees can be. For example, hearing that Company A offers 99.9
percent uptime while Company B offers 99.999 percent uptime may
lead you to believe that there isn’t a very big difference in the uptime
being offered by the two competitors. However, in reality, 99.9 percent
uptime equates to nearly 9 hours of downtime per year whereas 99.999
percent equates to only 5 minutes of unplanned downtime annually.
When looking at it this way, it soon becomes evident that even a very
slight difference in uptime percentages can equate to significant
differences in the actual amount of downtime that your site will suffer
each year.
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7. Let’s say, for example, that your site is experiencing an uptime rate of
99 percent. That may sound like it isn’t too bad, when it really means is
that your site is suffering 3.65 days of unplanned downtime each and
every year. That is, indeed, well above an acceptable level of unplanned
downtime. Considering that an hour of downtime can literally cost tens if
not hundreds of thousands of dollars, 3.65 days of downtime per year
can have a crippling effect on a business’s bottom line. Because of this,
it is critical to partner with a quality hosting provider if you do not want
your site to suffer from too much downtime.
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8. With that being said, you cannot rely on the guarantees offered by the
hosting companies alone to determine whether or not a provider is
reliable. Some companies may inflate the uptime numbers they publish.
While they will refund you for the difference in downtime experienced,
that refund only applies to what you paid for that difference. For
example, if you are promised 99.99 percent uptime and you only receive
99 percent uptime, the hosting provider is only responsible for refunding
you for the time your site was down beyond the period they had
promised. Oftentimes this equates to only a few dollars, or even just a
few cents, and in no way compensates you for the profits you lost due to
the extended downtime or the damage that downtime did to your
reputation. Because of this, you will want to research a company’s
reputation for reliability as well as looking at the uptime ratio they
promise before choosing the hosting provider that is right for you.
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9. Make Proper Planning a Priority
Once you have secured a reliable hosting provider, you need to ensure
that you are taking specific measures to reduce your site’s downtime.
For example, when dealing with planned downtime, you need to reduce
updates by properly managing the hardware and software mix. You can
also reduce planned downtime by finding out if there are ways to make
certain upgrades without encountering any actual downtime of your
website, such as using server clustering and manual failovers. The
utilization of managed hosting services is another way you can reduce
the impact planned downtime has on your website.
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10. Another key to avoiding unnecessary website downtime is the utilization
of a quality website monitoring service. By utilizing a website monitoring
service you can ensure that you know about an instance of downtime
the moment it happens. This allows you to go to work as quickly as
possible to get your website back up and running. A website monitoring
service can also help you pinpoint causes of downtime, can alert you of
trends that may indicate impending downtime, and can even provide
features that allow you to put automated processes into place that
reduce the impact downtime has on your site’s visitors. For example,
Alertra’s website monitoring service offers webhooks that can call an
external API to switch your DNS to a backup should downtime occur,
ensuring that your site is still functional for end users even before the
actual problem is resolved.
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11. Once you have taken measures to minimize the impact of planned
downtime and you have quality hosting and website monitoring in place,
you can go to work preparing for unplanned downtime. For example,
you can utilize server clusters and load balancing, website version
control testing, security management, and data backups to ensure that
the impact of unplanned downtime is minimized and that you are ready
for it when it does occur.
By utilizing the proper tools and resources and putting plans into place
for when the inevitable does happen, you can ensure that your
website’s downtime and the impact it has are kept to a minimum and
that you never have to worry about entering into the territory of too
much downtime again.
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12. Alertra is a leading provider of website monitoring and alerting services.
We monitor the availability and performance of Internet-connected
devices. Alertra website uptime monitor provides timely alert
notifications and access to detailed reporting. We offer website
monitoring to all sizes of businesses from small businesses to Fortune
500 companies. For Alertra's website monitoring cost visit us at
https://www.alertra.com.
Thank you for spending your precious time in reading this article.
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