Reliability: Fault Tolerance & Redundancy
Reliability: Fault Tolerance & Redundancy
💡 Key Takeaways
- Understand the difference between fault tolerance and redundancy and how they contribute to reliability
- Identify common redundancy strategies (duplication, backups, failover) and when to use them
- Explain how fault tolerance minimizes downtime and preserves data during failures
- Describe basic reliability metrics (uptime, MTBF, MTTR) and how they guide design decisions
- Recognize trade-offs of adding redundancy (cost, complexity, performance) and how to balance them
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What does reliability mean in computing systems?
Reliability is the ability of a system to perform its intended function under stated conditions for a specified period, with few or no failures.
What is fault tolerance?
Fault tolerance is the system's ability to continue operating correctly even when some components fail, typically using redundancy and automatic recovery.
What is redundancy in reliability engineering?
Redundancy means having extra components or parallel pathways (e.g., duplicate servers or power supplies) so a failure doesn't interrupt service.
What is failover and how does it relate to fault tolerance?
Failover is the automatic switch to a backup component or system when the primary one fails, enabling continuous operation and supporting fault tolerance.