More Evidence That More Than One Server Location Is Needed to Maximize Website Uptime

In the past Alertra has discussed the fact that the way your website hosting is set up is crucial to the uptime of your site. Bandwidth and uptime ratios are not the only thing you have to consider, however. The fact of the matter is that server locations play a vital role in how a power outage could result in website downtime if your host isn’t planning properly. If your website host only has one server location and that location experiences a power outage, your site is going to go down until the power is restored. If, on the other hand, you host with a site that has more than one server location, an isolated power outage won’t be able to take your entire site down with it (along with your website profits).

You Need Access to More Than One Server Location

This past week a number of websites were affected by site downtime. Not because there were glitches in programming or DDoS attacks, but simply because the companies that these sites were hosted with apparently only offered a single server location with their hosting package.

Club Betting is one company whose site went down due this past week. The Bet Butler is another. MedEdWorld also suffered website downtime. All of these instances of downtime were caused by a power outage. The weather outside in some areas is cold and frightful and blizzards and storms are in full force. Power outages are to be expected. What should not be expected, however, is for an entire site to go down just because a single server center loses power.

Do You Know How Many Server Locations Your Hosting Provider Has?

The hosting company that you use will have a significant impact on the uptime of your website. While the site can promise an uptime ratio of 99.9 percent, that promise isn’t going to help you if the company only has one server location and that location suffers a power outage. The question is, what can you do about it?

You should definitely contact your hosting company and see how many server locations they have, but that isn’t the only question you need to be asking. Even if your host has more than one server location, that doesn’t mean your website is going to have access to all locations. Your host may have a dozen or more server locations, but your site may only be served by a single server. If a power outage occurs where that server is located, you’re going to experience downtime and lost profits. You need to ask your host what they will do if your server location experiences a power outage. Will your site be redirected to another server location that is actually up and running? If the answer is no, you may want to start searching elsewhere for hosting services.

You Can’t Control Mother Nature

No one can control Mother Nature. When a storm hits, a power outage may be inevitable. The good news is that even if one of your host’s servers is located in the heart of the power outage, your website does not have to be affected. The key is to make sure that you have a hosting plan that will redirect your site to another server location if the lights go out at one. While you can’t completely eliminate downtime, it is your job to ensure that your site has the maximum amount of uptime possible. This means hosting with a company that provides you with more than one server location in situations just like these.