Measuring the reliability of existing web servers

As the usage of the Internet increases and more critical functions rely on the World Wide Web for operation, it is important that network researchers have current and accurate information from a real-world standpoint of the achieved reliability of the Internet. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Web outages are a serious issue from a cost standpoint. However, there have been few mainstream studies showing the reliability of the existing web infrastructure. As the Internet has changed, so to has its capabilities and its reliability. Yet, there have been few independent studies which have provided quantitative measurement of actual Web reliability. This article provides results from a controlled experiment intended to measure the reliability of the existing web infrastructure.