Complexity and Reliability

AlanRobertson's battle cry is Complexity Is The Enemy of Reliability!

There are several reasons he believes this to be true:

• Simple software works. Complex software works sometimes.

• In a properly designed and installed HA system, most of the notable outages are caused by HumanError. SysAdmins make far more mistakes when they do not understand how their system works.

  Simple systems are far more likely to be correctly understood by the SysAdmins that manage them, than are complex systems. This is particularly true when working with too little sleep or too much pressure.

  Both circumstances are common to SysAdmins. As a result, more errors are made in managing complex systems than in managing simple ones.

For these reasons, the Linux-HA project strives to keep their software as simple and understandable as possible.

See Also

ThePrincipleOfLeastSurprise, SimplicityIsHard

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