CompTIA Server+ (SK0-005)Server AdministrationMedium
A server administrator is designing a new server infrastructure for a high-traffic e-commerce website. The primary requirement is to minimize downtime in case of a single server failure, ensuring continuous service availability. Which architectural principle should be prioritized to meet this requirement?
- AScalability
- BLoad balancing
- CHigh Availability (HA)
- DDisaster Recovery (DR)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. High Availability (HA)
High Availability (HA) is specifically designed to ensure continuous operation and minimize downtime by eliminating single points of failure, often through redundancy, failover mechanisms, and clustering. This directly addresses the requirement of minimizing downtime during a single server failure.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Scalability refers to the ability to handle increased demand or workload, which is important for e-commerce but doesn't directly address minimizing downtime from a single server failure.
- B. Load balancing distributes traffic across multiple servers to improve performance and distribute workload, but it doesn't inherently guarantee continuous service in case of a server failure without HA mechanisms.
- D. Disaster Recovery (DR) focuses on restoring services after a major catastrophic event (e.g., data center outage), which is different from minimizing downtime due to a single server failure within the primary infrastructure.
High Availability (HA)
A characteristic of a system, which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance for a higher than normal period.
- Minimizes downtime.
- Achieved through redundancy, failover, clustering.
- Eliminates single points of failure.
Memory trick: HA keeps things Always Up.