Defining Availability and Scalability Goals

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Defining availability and scalability goals is the first step toward ensuring that your efforts are focused on the elements of the system that matter the most to your organization. Figure 6.2 shows how to quantify and determine your availability goals.

Figure 6.2   Defining Availability and Scalability Goals

Availability goals allow you to accomplish the following tasks:

• Design, operate, and evaluate your systems in relationship to a consistent set of priorities, and place new requests or problems in context.

• Keep efforts focused where they are needed. Without clear goals, efforts can become uncoordinated, or resources can be spread so thin that none of the organization’s most important needs are met.

• Limit costs. You can direct expenditures toward the areas where they make the most difference.

• Recognize when tradeoffs must be made, and make them in appropriate ways.

• Clarify areas where one set of goals might conflict with another, and avoid making plans that require a system to handle two conflicting goals simultaneously.

• Provide a way for operators and support staff to prioritize unexpected problems when they arise by referring to the availability goals for that component or service.