Uptime is a measure of the time a computer system has been “up” and running. It came into use to describe the opposite of downtime, times when a system was not operational. The uptime and reliability of computer and communications facilities is sometimes measured in nines. “Five nines” means 99.999% availability, which translates to a total downtime of approximately five minutes and fifteen seconds per year.
| \ | Total downtime (HH:MM:SS) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability | per day | per month | per year |
| 99.999% | 00:00:00.4 | 00:00:26 | 00:05:15 |
| 99.99% | 00:00:08 | 00:04:22 | 00:52:35 |
| 99.9% | 00:01:26 | 00:43:49 | 08:45:56 |
| 99% | 00:14:23 | 07:18:17 | 87:39:29 |
It is often used as a measure of computer operating system reliability and stability, in that this time represents the time a computer can be left unattended without crashing, or needing to be rebooted for administrative or maintenance purposes. Conversely, long uptime can indicate negligence, because critical updates can sometimes require reboots.
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