Talk:Single point of failure

It's not just computers

Single points of failure are involved in every form of engineering, but this article only discusses it's relevance to computing. It needs to be expanded to describe it's relevance in other fields.Skrelk (talk) 06:24, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Go for it. If you're only lightly familiar, you can at least make a stub section for the engineering context. --Tekhnofiend (talk) 14:53, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

"Single point of failure" is a concept that has more than just engineering and computing implications. It describes any system that depends on the reliability of a single component. As a human example, imagine a family environment where the husband is unhealthy and depends on his wife (the single component) for his daily health care. No other family or neighbor is readily available. If the wife fails in this situation - breaks a leg, has a stroke or heart attack - what happens to the husband?

This concept can apply to financial situations as well. Automated bill paying, for example, fails when the paycheck stops. Lack of an immediate replacement income stream brings financial ruin.

The term 'Single Point of Failure' is a concept with broad applicability, even though it was spawned by engineers. 71.197.176.136 (talk) 18:30, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

There will always be single points of failure

the page should mention that every system will have at least one single-point-of-failure, it cannot be eliminated. Worried that your calculator (ALU) might give the wrong answer? Get a redundant calculator (ALU) and make sure it agrees. If they disagree which do you believe? Better get a 3rd and let them vote, 2 out of 3! Who counts the votes? your new single point of failure, that's who. 2603:8001:D300:A631:0:0:0:10D0 (talk) 01:53, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Underwater Diving Template

While one of the major risks associated with underwater diving is a single point of failure, diving a specific enough topic that including the template at the bottom of the page seems unnecessary. TWorkman (talk) 15:56, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

Correction: ...diving *is* a specific enough topic... TWorkman (talk) 15:57, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

Removed ~Kvng (talk) 14:17, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

SVGs not viewable in Dark mode

The illustrations are hard to read in dark mode.

Article fails to cover topic

Single points of failure exists in virtually everything, not just computers.  Every human being has a SPOF within: his or her heart.  Almost all mechanisms have an SPOF; the so-called “Jesus nut” that attaches the main rotor assembly to the transmission mast of a helicopter is a well-known example.  Surely this article can do better.

216.152.18.132 (talk) 05:17, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

Redundancy is not the only option to SPOF

In many fields, SPOF are addressed not by redundancy, but by careful engineering, testing, and margins. They remin SPOF technically, and there might be 100+ such SPOFs in a design, each of which would be considered mission critical, but if all are extremaly well design and tested, then they will not fail, and system will operate.

I.e. James Webb Space Telescope had 100 if not 1000 SPOFs. Redundancy or other solution would not work because of extra complexity, and ultimately weigth, and possibly performance. Solution was to make all of 1000 SPOFs to be so robust, that not a single one of them can convincingly fail when they were critical to the operation. ~2026-34029-95 (talk) 21:22, 8 June 2026 (UTC)