Twitter has 99.1% uptime for June

According to uptime service monitor Pingdom, social networking site Twitter had a June uptime figure of 99.17%. Although this sounds high, it is actually low by industry standards, especially for a large site like Twitter with so many resources at its disposal.

The 0.83% downtime figure equates to 5 hours and 43 minutes of lost Tweeting. Network configuration issues as well as spikes of traffic due to the World Cup and NBA Finals caused the downtime.

Unfortunately, Twitter fanatics will not be able to get the lost time back. Maybe the site will have better uptime this month?

Photo | Flickr

99% Uptime Guarantee

It seems as though nearly all web hosting providers promise 99% uptime. Therefore, the promise alone does not make the choice any easier. While there are sites that provide monitoring services that rate the actual uptime of hosts, the real question you should ask a web host is what the guarantee entails.

There is no question that even the best web host will have some down time. That is why no host promises 100% uptime. When your server does go down, what are the consequences? Will the web host say nothing and just eventually turn it back on, pretending like nothing happened? Will they apologize after a reboot? Will they assure you that it will never happen again?

The truth is, when a website is critical to an organization or business, a web host, which is also a business, should compensate the customer for downtime. That guarantee should include a clause about compensation. It may take the form of pro-rating a monthly fee or some other form, but the ultimate outcome should satisfy the customer.

Photo Source: Flickr

Why uptime matters

Ever notice that most hosts have 99.9% uptime. There’s a good reason why they try so hard to keep things running. While a few percentage points might not seem like a big deal, over the course of a year they can really add up. Just take a look at the numbers:

99.9% uptime= 8.76 hours of downtime
99.5% uptime= 43.8 hours
99.0% uptime= 87.6 hours
97% uptime= 262.8 hours

Even a host that has 99.5% uptime still experiences 2 days of downtime per year! For some, that may not be a problem. But keep in mind that falling uptime figures are a very slippery slope. A seemingly decent up-time of 97% translate to outage time of 262.8 hours, or a little under 11 days.

4 Tools to monitor site uptime

One of the most important things you can do for your website is to make sure you have some type of monitoring. The last thing you want is to get an email or call from an irate customer because your site is down. Here are four web-based monitoring tools that alert you when your site is down. They also provide many other features, and one, Sucuri, checks your site for attacks and malware. They are listed here in no particular order.

Basic State

Checks every 15 minutes, sends email and sms alerts, daily uptime reports (including graphs), and unlimited sites.

Pingdom

Allows users to have 1 website and provides sms, email, and twitter alerts, uptime reports, and error analysis.

Sucuri

Includes integrity monitoring, DNS and Whois hijacking monitoring, website defacement, malware, and blacklist detection.

Siteuptime

Offers 1 monitor, 30/60 minute checks, uptime reports, statistics page, and multiple protocols.

System monitoring with phpSysInfo

Sometimes you just need quick information about your server without having to click through numerous control panel screens or logging via SSH. A small PHP software application, called phpSysInfo, allows you to do just that. Installed like a normal PHP script, you can access a plethora of information about your server, including:

Hostname, Listening IP, Kernel version, Distribution name, Uptime, Current number of users, Load averages, Processors, Devices, Memory, Filesystems, Network usage, and Information about running processes. All of this is presented in a user-friendly graphical format that has a changeable theme.

phpSysInfo is available for Linux, BSD, Winows, OS X, and all UNIX-like operating systems. It is completely web-based and is free software, releated under the GNU GPL. You can download it from sourceforge.net free of charge.

Quick System Information with "Uptime"

There are several ways to monitor your Linux dedicated server. Some involve typing simple commands, while more advanced techniques require you to study log files. Few, however, are as easy as typing “uptime”. Once entered, you will know a number of things:

1. The system time. Sometimes you might find that your server is running in a different time zone than your home/office computer, which is very important to note.

2. How long your system as been running (may web hosting providers promise 99% uptime, so you should often see an accumulation of days rather than just hours).

3. Number of users currently logged in. Unless you allow users to login via SSH, there should usually only be one: you. This is a quick way to find out if someone might be gaining illegal access to your server.

4. Load average. These three numbers indicated the amount of stress or load on your CPU. The first number shows the last minute, the second the last 5 minutes, and the third the last 15 minutes. Lower numbers are better, so very high numbers may indicate a problem.

With such a simple command, you can find out all of that information and then make decisions about whether you need to investigate further.

Photo Source: Flickr

Save time with remote reboot

Last week you learned how a routine server reboot can be a costly affair at some dedicated hosts. Even for those of us with more endearing hosts that do not charge for restarts, the process can sometimes take a bit longer than it should.

Instead of contacting your provider every time you need a reboot, why not utilize remote reboot? This feature, offered by an ever-increasing number of hosts, allows you to reboot the system yourself remotely via the web in the event something goes awry.

The cost is generally minimal: either nothing at all or a few pounds per month. If you value uptime or reboot your server frequently, such a service is invaluable.

Choosing the best host for your money

Question: How do I choose an inexpensive but reliable web hosting provider?

Answer: Fortunately, there are boatload of people with your dilemma. Some of them have created websites that specialize in rating and reviewing hosts. You can also check the web host uptime to make sure they deliver on their promises.

Another important aspect to consider is the services offered. A web host might offer 99.999% uptime and amazingly low prices but might not have the services you need. Will you need shared SSL and SSH access? Do you want a certain operating system, control panel, or quick installation of certain applications? These are all points to think about when making what will hopefully be a long-term decision.

Finally, it does not hurt to look up the business you are going to pay for service, especially if you are about to enter a year-long deal. Investigate their business practices and claims against them. A web host that might look 100% legitimate may not even be in the country you think it is in. Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions either. In the end you are the customer, and the customer should be completely satisfied.

Photo: SXC

Choosing a backup solution for your dedicated server

Question: I am looking for a backup solution for my dedicated server. What are my options?

Answer: There are three common options that dedicated server managers typically use. All of them have their benefits and drawbacks.

1. Web hosting company. Often times,the company that owns and houses your server also offers remote backup servers at an additional price. The benefits are that you generally do not have to maintain the backup server, although you may have to do some minor setup to prepare it for backup. You also can depend on the established uptime and reliability of your web hosting provider.

There are a few drawbacks. They will most likely charge a monthly fee for the service, which can add significant cost, depending on the disk space and features you need. You will also have to keep your backup server secure and manage it yourself. And the most significant drawback is that, if something goes horribly wrong with your web host, you could lose both your server and its backup.
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Track website outages with uptime monitors

In the busy world we live in, it’s impossible for most people to monitor their sites 24/7. But tracking your site’s speed and uptime throughout the day is critical. Thankfully, you can use an uptime monitor to track the availability of any URL.

Most uptime trackers charge a small fee per month, but can record when a site goes down, for how long, and also send out a text message or email to alert you of any problems. Some even track website speed.

An uptime monitor can be a good investment in a number of situations. Most notably, the sooner you know your website has a problem, the sooner you can contact your host and get it fixed. Downtime costs money, and the longer your site is down, the more money you lose. Owners of high-revenue or mission-critical sites will find an uptime monitor indispensable.

Photo | Flickr