Visit an organization that relies heavily on Web-based applications. Interview the database administrator (or a senior person in that organization) to determine the following:

a. What is the organizational goal for system availability?

(Compare with Table 12-3.)

b. Has the organization estimated the cost of system downtime ($/hour)? If not, use Table 12-2 and select a cost for a similar type of organization.

c. What is the greatest obstacle to achieving high data availability for this organization?

d. What measures has the organization taken to ensure high availability? What measures are planned for the future?