99.9% A Myth in Web Hosting?
When your web hosting companies claim 99.9% uptime and when that is reflected in site statistics, it is a good reason to be happy about the services. However, it is important to track further details about the timing and reasons of whatever downtime it was, even if it is rare.
When a host claims 99.9% uptime, it means that the system should have a monitoring system that tracks servers at minute level. And when calculated to the minutest details, it means about 4 minutes of downtime is still there. The important question is the timing of these 4 minutes and if it happens during your peak business hours, it needs to be addressed.
One of the better options is to have a third-party monitoring system that can monitor independently. Also, you should be clear about:
What are the peak business hours of your business? Does your host know about it? Can there be any assurance of no downtime during these peak hours?
What is the monitoring system – what frequency and what kind of notification system is there in case of downtime?
Is the system monitoring the server, or key components of website?
99.9% uptime is not impossible as many hosting companies have facts to prove that. A detailed analysis of above points makes you more ready to handle downtime issues at critical hours of your business. Now you should know what exactly you want, so discuss it with your host to achieve the same.
