Simon Riggs wrote: > On Sat, 2011-01-01 at 23:36 -0500, Robert Haas wrote: >> On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 6:54 AM, Simon Riggs wrote: >>> Yes, working out the math is a good idea. Things are much clearer >>> if we do that. >>> >>> Let's assume we have 98% availability on any single server. >>> >>> 1. Having one primary and 2 standbys, either of which can >>> acknowledge, and we never lock up if both standbys fail, then we >>> will have 99.9992% server availability. (So PostgreSQL hits "5 >>> Nines", with data guarantees). ("Maximised availability") >> >> I don't agree with this math. ...(snip by Simon)... 99.96%. > > OK, so that is at least 99.96%. Cool. I think you're talking about different metrics, and you're both right. With two servers configured in sync rep your chance of having an available (running) server is 99.9992%. The chance that you know that you have one that is totally up to date, with no lost transactions is 99.9208%. The chance that you *actually* have up-to-date data would be higher, but you'd have no way to be sure. The 99.96% number is your certainty that you have a running server with up-to-date data if only one machine is sync rep. It's a matter of whether your shop needs five nines of availability or the highest probability of not losing data. You get to choose. -Kevin
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