Analyzing Risk

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

When planning a highly available Windows Server 2003 environment, consider all available alternatives and measure the risk of failure for each alternative. Begin with your current organization and then implement design changes that increase reliability to varying degrees. Evaluate the costs of each alternative against its risk factors and the impact of downtime to your organization.

Often, achieving a certain level of availability can be relatively inexpensive, but to go from 98 percent availability to 99 percent, for example, or from 99.9 percent availability to 99.99 percent, can be very costly. This is because bringing your organization to the next level of availabity might entail a combination of new or costly hardware solutions, additional staff, and support staff for non-peak hours. As you determine how important it is to maintain productivity in your IT environment, consider whether those added days, hours, and minutes of availability are worth the price.

Every operations center needs a risk management plan. When assessing risks in your proposed Windows Server 2003 deployment, remember that network and server failures can cause considerable loss to businesses. After you evaluate risks versus costs, and after you design and deploy your system, your IT staff needs sound guidelines and plans of action in case a failure in the system does occur.

For more information about designing a risk management plan for your Windows Server 2003 deployment, see the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) link on the Web Resources page at https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources. The MOF Web page provides complete information about creating and maintaining a flexible risk management plan, with emphasis on change management and physical environment management, in addition to staffing and team role recommendations.