Why do servers “go down” for routine maintenance? Is there not a backup where traffic can route?

Question

Why do servers “go down” for routine maintenance? Is there not a backup where traffic can route?

In: 6

Answer 1

Not always. Some companies are big enough that they take servers down all the time for maintenance and you’d never go. For example, how often does Google go down for maintenance? never. But they have thousands and thousands of servers.

Other companies don’t have that type of infrastructure. Or have some back end that can’t be accessed while it’s having maintenance. In that case, they would go down for maintenance.