xref: /linux/drivers/ras/Kconfig (revision 9b45ef443acde55526485db37440cd3e8f03d544)
1*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkovmenuconfig RAS
2*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	bool "Reliability, Availability and Serviceability (RAS) features"
3*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	help
4*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) is a computer
5*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  hardware engineering term. Computers designed with higher levels
6*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  of RAS have a multitude of features that protect data integrity
7*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  and help them stay available for long periods of time without
8*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  failure.
9*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov
10*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Reliability can be defined as the probability that the system will
11*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  produce correct outputs up to some given time. Reliability is
12*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  enhanced by features that help to avoid, detect and repair hardware
13*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  faults.
14*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov
15*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Availability is the probability a system is operational at a given
16*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  time, i.e. the amount of time a device is actually operating as the
17*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  percentage of total time it should be operating.
18*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov
19*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Serviceability or maintainability is the simplicity and speed with
20*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  which a system can be repaired or maintained; if the time to repair
21*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  a failed system increases, then availability will decrease.
22*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov
23*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Note that Reliability and Availability are distinct concepts:
24*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  Reliability is a measure of the ability of a system to function
25*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  correctly, including avoiding data corruption, whereas Availability
26*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  measures how often it is available for use, even though it may not
27*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  be functioning correctly. For example, a server may run forever and
28*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  so have ideal availability, but may be unreliable, with frequent
29*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov	  data corruption.
30*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkov
31*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkovif RAS
32*9b45ef44SBorislav Petkovendif
33