Reliability and Uptime of Web Hosting

The business of being a web hosting provider has increased in demand, so of course new providers are always popping up in an effort to meet that demand. However, there is always the question that should be asked as to the overall reliability of the web hosting services provider. As an individual needing a web page hosted it is something to consider, but some individuals may consider cost over reliability depending on the use and need of the particular web page. As a business owner it is imperative that the provider of web hosting services for your company is extremely reliable. With this the uptime should be of considerable proportions. Otherwise, money can be lost rather than gained through the hosting of your particular web site.



The uptime is the amount or percentage of time that a particular host can be accessed by means of the internet. When considering the overall reliability of a web hosting services provider the uptime should be clearly clarified as to what the client can expect. Naturally there will be an occasional downtime for maintenance, upgrades and server restarts, but a business should especially have clarified exactly what is included in uptime before choosing the services of a particular web hosting provider. A service level agreement should be included in a web host's plan. The inclusion of such provision as consequences for non-compliance with meeting performance goals should be considered when a business is reviewing a web hosting services provider's reliability record and status.



Upon review of varied web hosts, you should keep in mind that there is no way that any web host services provider can provide 100% uptime. Even if to the point of time that you are researching the provider they have had no downtime, the more clients they get on board the more the likelihood that something will occur to cause downtime. No one can predict when there will be issues with software, equipment failure or power failure. These hosting providers don't include maintenance needs in their uptime calculations in many cases either. Therefore, keep in mind that the quoted percentage of uptime for many hosts should be subtracted by maintenance time.



Understanding uptime percentages for a host provider can be confusing as well. If a host provider quotes 99.9% uptime that accounts for 8.75 hours of uptime. Likewise if a host quotes a slight bit lower uptime such as 99.8% that is more downtime than you may realize. That 99.8% downtime comes out to be about 17.5 hours. Be sure to keep close attention on this throughout your research for choosing a web hosting company. If you want one that is okay 99.8% is a good enough choice, but if you want much more reliability then you should choose the 99.9% uptime.



You should keep in mind that you particular web site will have its own down time for updates and maintenance in addition to the host's downtime. Therefore, when choose the host company you should remember this in your reliability percentage scenario.



Whether you are an individual or a business looking for a reliable web hosting services provider, you should do close research and consider all scenarios of expected downtime in addition to your other needs before choosing your host provider.