What does the term "high availability" refer to?

The term "high availability" specifically refers to systems that are designed to be durable and maintain continuous operation without failure. This means that these systems are equipped to minimize downtime and ensure consistent performance, which is critical for businesses that rely on their systems being accessible and operational at all times.

High availability is often achieved through redundancy, clustering, and failover mechanisms that allow for seamless operation in the event of component failures. For example, if one server goes down, another can take over its responsibilities, ensuring that users experience minimal or no disruption in service. Therefore, the focus on durability and the capacity to operate continuously are central to the concept of high availability.

Other options touch on aspects of system management but do not capture the essence of high availability as it is understood in the context of IT architecture and cloud services.