Reliability vs. Availability
Below are the differences between Reliability and Availability:
Feature |
Reliability |
Availability |
---|---|---|
Definition |
It is the ability of a system to deliver services correctly under given conditions for a given period of time. |
It is the probability that a system, at a given point in time, would remain operational under normal circumstances. |
Measurement |
Reliability can be measured using metrics such as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) or Mean Time to Repair(MTTR). |
Availability is usually measured as a percentage and is calculated as the ratio of the system’s uptime to the total time (uptime + downtime) within a given time frame. |
Focus |
It refers to a failure-free operation during an interval. |
It refers to failure-free operation under normal circumstances at a specific instant of time. |
Time Frame |
It is a long-term measure that looks at the overall performance of a system over its operational lifespan |
It is a short-term measure that assesses the system’s current state and its ability to be available and operational at any given moment. |
Factors | Maintenance, design quality, and component lifespan. | Downtime, maintenance schedules, and fault tolerance strategies. |
Reliability vs Availability: What’s The Difference?
When it comes to technology and systems, you might hear the terms “reliability” and “availability” used a lot. But what do they mean, and how are they different? Think of reliability as how often something works correctly and on the other hand, availability is about how often something is ready to be used. In this article, we’ll break down the differences between reliability and availability in a way that’s easy to understand.