Availability Improvements

New capabilities in Windows Server 2003 provide better uptime by reducing the probability of OS failures, by supporting redundancy so that failures have less impact, and by making problem detection and repair faster and easier. Higher availability goes hand-in-hand with server consolidation, as organizations will be more likely to justify the higher per-server costs of high-availability systems if they can support more users on fewer servers, especially servers that are more likely to have nearly continuous uptime.

However, obtaining higher levels of application availability requires more than a reliable OS: in most cases, applications must also be designed to work with the high-availability features of the hardware and OS; otherwise, the added cost of these systems may be unjustified.

In general, high application availability is a function of three inputs—technology, people, and process. The latter two inputs, while frequently neglected, are every bit as important as the first. However, this analysis is limited to a discussion of how technology—in this case, new capabilities in Windows Server 2003—can help improve application availability.