Uptime; what do all those 9’s mean?

Uptime means the time a compute or system is being used without any problems. But how much time is that when 99.99% is promised?

According to a dictionary, uptime means:

the period of time when a computer, system, etc.

is being used without any problems.


What that means in real time:

UptimeTotal downtime per year
99.00000%3 days, 15 hours and 39 minutes
99.90000%8 hours, 45 minutes and 56 seconds
99.99000%52 minutes and 35 seconds
99.99900%5 minutes and 15 seconds
99.99990%31 seconds
99.99999%3 seconds

(source: Matt Rickard – @mattrickard at Twitter)

So this is downtime per year!

At Fuga you get a 99.99% uptime SLA,

although we are actually between 99.99% and 99.999%. But let’s assume 2×9 behind the dot:

52 minutes and 35 seconds per year

is 3155 seconds per year

Divide by 365 days makes (rounded up) 8.64383 seconds per day

x7 = 60.50681 seconds per week

That’s an itsy bitsy teenie weenie more than 1 minute of downtime per week!

(source: Matt Rickard – @mattrickard at Twitter) For every extra 9 after the dot you should take into account a multiplication of 10 for the costs. If you know what it will cost you to be down for 1 minute, you can make an offset against the costs you will incur for wanting that extra 9 behind the dot in your SLA. Because everything is possible, we know that, but these kinds of considerations deserve a fair calculation.


More articles

He walked in as an intern, but we are keeping him! So it’s time to meet Sam, our new Fuganeer, with the job description: Platform Engineer
From January 9th to 12th, 2024, we are in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Proud to showcase at the CES 2024, as part of the NL Tech Pavilion in Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo, Booth 62100. You can read our daily CES2024 updates here.
2024 is just around the corner. How are you entering the new year? At least we’re really looking forward to it! The past year has been full of challenges, and victories such as the launch of our Frankfurt region. We are also grateful for your feedback.
Looking back at a great event in Valencia, Spain. Good weather, nice food and great people! We had a special offer for the startups, now also available for you!