Re: [cobalt-users] 99.9% revisited...

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kris Dahl wrote:

> You're still at 99.7% on a year, even after 28 hours of downtime.  And
> that's a lot of downtime.  99.9% is not hard to offer.

It happened two nights in a row.  Why couldn't it happen two more nights
in a row?

And I "offer 99.9%"; I just don't guarantee it.

I can't afford to go an entire month with all my customers getting
service for free.

> > While this was a problem with DSL it could easily have been with a T-1;
> > even with a T-3.
> 
> Well, if you are spending $1000+ dollars a month with them, they hustle a
> little bit more.  This is from experience.  If you buy a commercial grade
> DSL line from like Savvis, they guarantee your connection.  And they have
> the private peering to back that up.  Of course you're not talking about
> $100/mo, either.  If I remember correctly a 1MB DSL line from them (not the
> line, but the access) was around $700/mo.

I won't argue this.  I'll just let all the horror stories I continue to
read do it for me.  Do you really think this won't happen with a T-1 or
even a T-3?  I don't.

And you know as well as I do that Savvis doesn't guarantee your lost
income.

> > Now you see why I give my best efforts, but don't GUARANTEE uptime?
> 
> Well... You you have to be positioned to be able to offer it.  When I was
> saying that it is easy to get a 99.9%, and 99.99% isn't that much harder, I
> was assuming you would be in a high-grade commercial datacenter with
> redundant routes and private peering arrangements, adequate UPS and
> generator power, etc.

I do host in a high-grade commercial datacenter with redundant routes
and private peering arrangements, through FroGlo, Level 3, and Savvis. 
And we've got adequte power backup, as well.

I just don't believe in technology enough to guarantee it.

> You can't really offer that kind of guarantee on a DSL line.  Or really even
> a T1 line (although I feel I could easily guarantee 99.9%).
> 
> And its not like I would make that guarantee for free--the service would be
> at a premium (as I wouldn't want to attract lower-end clients).  But you
> can, if you make the effort (and charge the premium) offer 4 nines
> guaranteed.  But only do it if your target market requires it and you get
> something out of it (i.e. more money--at least enough to cover the
> penalties).  Its all about the Benjamins.

As I've said, I don't think you ever get enough out of it to cover the
penalties.  Ask the Chicago Board of Trade; they were down weeks as I
recall.  How much money did they get out of it?

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205