Server Uptimes: Mirage of Low-priced Hosting

It is a matter of fact that, users usually inquire about server uptime while searching for hosting providers, like for instance, some offer 99.8%, some 99%, and some even 99.99% server uptime guarantee. However, 99% server uptime looks very nice if it is really be, but actual meaning is quite different.

In the real sense, 99% server uptime represents that during the duration of 365 days (i.e. 1year) user’s server will remain up 99% of the time, i.e.361.35 days (365 days multiply by 99 percent). This is not actually good in real sense. As even after possessing 99% server uptime user’s site may be down for 4 crucial days. If a user owes an online store and a downtime for an hour, one can easily predict what can happen. The user on one hand loose the income on the other customers will go into the pockets of competitors.

Given below are the few server uptimes examples along with calculations displaying the real face of these percentages?

100% server uptime

Up = 1 year

Down = nil (not even for single minute)

99.999% server uptime

Up = 364.9964 days

Down = 0.0036 days, equalizing 0.0876 hours and 5.256 minutes

99.99% server uptime

Up = 364.9635 days

Down = 0.0365 days, equalizing 0.876 hours and 52.56 minutes

99.9% server uptime

Up = 364.635 days

Down = 0.365 days, equalizing 8.76 hours and 525.6 minutes

99.8% server uptime

Up = 364.27 days

Down = 0.73 days equalizing 17.52 hours and 1051.2 minutes

99% server uptime

Up = 361.35 days

Down = 3.65 days equalizing 87.6 hours and 5256 minutes

The user can even measure the server response time and hops required to reach server through various tools like ping and trace route.

When the user goes for a cheap hosting plan, at the starting phase it may look a fair deal after getting a lump of disk space and attractive server features but things are quite different when it comes to server uptime, as user needs to pay fairly high amount. When the user is in the beginning stage of having own website, then a lower server uptime for e.g. 99% may not bother him/her too much. But, with the increasing number of visitors with the passage of time, it is recommendable to deal with the host providing maximum server uptime like for e.g. 99.999%.