Comments on: Five Nines on the Net is a Pipe Dream

By: 99.999 « NET(net), Inc.

99.999 « NET(net), Inc. — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:05:13 +0000

[...] almost a decade. Gigoam commented recently about the fact that the current movement towards more cloud-based computing is going to require [...]

By: Transparency Is Good But Intelligence Is Better – GigaOM

Transparency Is Good But Intelligence Is Better – GigaOM — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:51:41 +0000

[...] but I think as far as getting business information and services via the web thanks to the movement to the cloud, some sort of user-friendly tool would make a complex process a bit easier to understand. I hope [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:25:55 +0000

I love that Ross includes a site that only pings every 5 minutes to try to measure the 9′s of a site. 5 9′s is 5.24 minutes a year, so pingdom.com would be unlikely to detect if a 5 9′s site was ever down.

To even attempt to determine if a site might be 5 9′s you’re going to have to ping a lot more frequently than that. And that’s just getting a ping response. I think most sites would consider availability to include actually being able to deliver a web page, not just a networking ping back.

By: Outage Fever: Netflix Streaming Was Down Last Night

Outage Fever: Netflix Streaming Was Down Last Night — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:28:29 +0000

[...] — this is a good reminder that these type of hiccups (and six hours is a long hiccup) are bound to happen when relying entirely on the Internet for video [...]

By: Google Slow, Twitterati Hysterical

Google Slow, Twitterati Hysterical — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:48:53 +0000

[...] the meantime, feel free to revisit our post about the difficulty of ensuring total reliability on the Internet, and ponder your backup communication strategies. The timing is someone ironic, as it comes one day [...]

By: How Is Cloud Computing Like Space Travel?

How Is Cloud Computing Like Space Travel? — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:02:58 +0000

[...] glitches and failures that may seem manageable in a corporate setting, have awesome power when they spread across the enormous number of users on the web. So how is cloud computing like space travel? Small problems can equal a monumental [...]

By: When Gmail Fails, Users Adapt

When Gmail Fails, Users Adapt — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:56:01 +0000

[...] Five nines is too expensive for most free, consumer-oriented web services to maintain, and realizing that, we seem to be building out our store of redundant communications. So now, when life offers us power outages, snowstorms and even Gmail failures, we’re able to pick right up and keep blogging, tweeting, texting and posting our thoughts into the ether. GA_googleFillSlot(“gigaom_ros_post_footer”); [...]

By: Faster Web Pages Makes Users Happy - GigaOM

Faster Web Pages Makes Users Happy - GigaOM — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:31:02 +0000

[...] of YSlow software, which measures web site performance. It’s a nice reminder that there are many links in the chain that create a user’s web experience, and it focuses on what developers and site designers can do to make pages load [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:58:47 +0000

Quote: “Knowing that, architecting for failure, and more services such as downforeveryoneorjustme.com (I would really love a more memorable name for this site) and helpful 404 pages would be appreciated.”

Your wish is granted: http://isitfucked.com

Enjoy!

By: 99.999 | licensinghandbook.com

99.999 | licensinghandbook.com — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:34:54 +0000

[...] almost a decade. Gigoam commented recently about the fact that the current movement towards more cloud-based computing is going to require [...]

By: Dave Burstein

Dave Burstein — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:53:48 +0000

Stacey, Om

When I saw your 5 9′s headline, I first tried to think of any dsl or fiber networks that were built for that. Even after I saw you wewre discussing the other end, the web sites, I pondered that question. Our Verizon DSL line has come close to that the last year, while my Time Warner cable drops often several times a day for a few seconds and they refuse to fix it. FIOS and the other fiber builds are designed for very good reliability, including no active elements in the field.

I’m very aware that broadband networks absolutely have not been engineered for anything close to the 5 9′s of the traditional telcos, with single points of failure common in DSL networks. The new fiber nets may be superior, but that’s not yet proven.

But I did realize at least one Internet service that is extraordinarily reliable. The NY ISP Panix has not allowed my email to fail in over five years, and the founder, Alexis Rosen, told me a while back it hadn’t gone down more than a few hours since Panix was founded early in the 1990s as one of the world’s first ISPs.

Reliability is not impossible in the Internet world.

Dave Burstein

By: Reflections on Unplanned Downtime | IT's About Uptime - The StackSafe Blog

Reflections on Unplanned Downtime | IT's About Uptime - The StackSafe Blog — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:16:25 +0000

[...] GigaOm takes the perspective that Five Nines on the Net is a Pipe Dream. [...]

By: Chris Parente

Chris Parente — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:34:10 +0000

Interesting post. There are bigger brains than mine in this comment thread, but some thoughts I had while reading:

As noted, big difference between five nines for a site, versus five nines for end user

I believe five nines equates to five minutes of down time a year — no, I can’t remember the formula for that number. It’s quite possible there are some businesses that will never need that level of performance

DNS is often not given enough attention from reliability standpoint — a point no doubt made in David’s commentary with Om. Hopefully DNS’s visibility will rise along with cloud computing. It’s also critical for enterprise VOIP deployments

Speaking of DNS security, it will be very interesting to see where ICANN sets the technology bar in their RFPs for the brand new TLDs — scuttlebutt suggests the standards will be on the low side

More informative 404 pages opens the door to redirects for advertising purposes. I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad, but adds complexity and can cause security problems (Earthlink), based on how implemented

By: Edmund Elkin

Edmund Elkin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:13:06 +0000

Is 5 9′s necessary? It depends upon the specific service, or the type of service, from that website. For example, if it is a road-traffic condition, then no worries if Site A is down, I just go to Site B, which is especially easy if I use a search engine to initially identify those sites (that keeps the bookmarks under control). On the other hand, if it is where I buy tickets for the big baseball game, or my 401(k) site, then I really want access now, and unavailability is not acceptable.
So, it would be useful to have a variable mechanism for ensuring QoS. That would save on the total investment / price, and ensure quality is there when I need it.
Also, remember… 5 9′s refers to “availability” not reliability. Or as the original article correctly referred to it: “up time.”

By: austinandrew

austinandrew — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:47:45 +0000

@ Ross – did you read the article? You write “Go start monitoring Merill Lynch or UBS and see how often their site goes down.” The point is that even if these guys were up 100% of the time, the infrastructure from their server to your home won’t be. That’s why VOIP sucks. Even if the VOIP provider is good, the service is only as good as your cable modem.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:46:07 +0000

Five nines is very doable — getting a VC or dot-commer that runs their business off of crappy boxes stuffed in their dorm rooms to pay for the required technology is a pipe dream. Hire infrastructure vendors that play in the communications world and they’ll engineer a 5-9′s system no problem. Continue to get your technology from Open Source and Fry’s and you’ll be lucy to get 3.