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Basic Concepts

Scalability

Scalability describes the ability of a system to add or remove resources.

There are two types of scaling strategies:

  1. Vertical Scaling
  2. Horizontal Scaling

Comparison of vertical and horizontal scaling

Availability

Availability is a measure of the time a system is operational and available to the users.

AvailabilityDowntime per yearDowntime per monthDowntime per week
90%36.5 days72 hours16.8 hours
99%3.65 days7.2 hours1.68 hours
99.9%8.76 hours43.2 minutes10.1 minutes
99.99%52.6 minutes4.32 minutes1.01 minutes
99.999%5.26 minutes25.9 seconds6.05 seconds

Agility

Agility is the ability of a system to quickly adapt to changes.

Elasticity

Elasticity is the ability of a system to automatically and dynamically adjust resources based on the demand.

Fault Tolerance

Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to continue operating in the event of a failure.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the ability of a system to recover from a catastrophic event.