Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to contain the propagation of faults, such as a failed transistor, a shorted connector or intermittent data on a bus, so that it keeps operating despite the failure of one or more components. A fault tolerant system masks errors and continues to run without the user being aware anything has gone wrong, which distinguishes it from a merely resilient system that continues operating while visibly degraded. Systems achieve fault tolerance mainly through redundancy, keeping backup components, functions or data ready to take over automatically when a primary component fails, using techniques such as replication of identical systems running in parallel, failover to backup instances, and diversity through different implementations of the same specification. The concept extends beyond computing to physical structures that retain their integrity despite damage from fatigue, corrosion or impact, and is essential wherever downtime would be unacceptable, such as in high availability or life critical applications. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Partially Attested
Origin YearYear the first known fault-tolerant computer (SAPO) was built, not necessarily the origin of the concept itself. Core PrincipleContain the propagation of faults so the system keeps operating despite failed components. 1 Connections
Sources
1. Fault tolerance (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph, first sentence
Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to contain the propagation of faults
History, first paragraph
The first known fault-tolerant computer was SAPO, built in 1951
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