FileNet P8 Platform, Version 5.2

Highly available

High availability is the ability of a server system to provide a service to a user with as little perceived downtime as possible. Though not guaranteed, different ranges of high availability exist, from "five nines" with 99.999% uptime, to 95% uptime.

If a system component fails for any reason, the high availability solution ensures that another component takes over for the failed component or that another server with the same component is available to handle the client request.

This documentation addresses only the hardware and software issues. Other issues that might impact high availability at a customer's system include: human error, process problems, and external issues.

Restriction: High availability does not mean that a service is guaranteed to always be available. Analysts describe a range of high availability targets, from the so-called five nines availability, with 99.999% uptime, at the high end, to basic availability at 95%. Five nines availability translates to five minutes or less downtime in a full year of 24 by 7 operations. By contrast, 99% availability allows up to 87 hours of downtime per year, and 95% allows up to 436 hours, or 18 days, of downtime, with the cost of providing high availability increasing exponentially as the target moves from 95% to 99% to 99.999%.