What does Fault Tolerance refer to in computing systems?

Fault tolerance in computing systems refers to the degree of system performance that is maintained even when some components experience malfunctions or failures. This means the system is designed with redundancies and recovery mechanisms that allow it to continue operating correctly or to degrade gracefully when a fault occurs.

A fault-tolerant system ensures that even if a part of the system fails, the overall operations remain unaffected, or the impact is minimal. This capability is essential for maintaining business continuity, especially in environments requiring high availability, such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure.

Other options do not capture the essence of fault tolerance. Some may touch on related concepts, such as recovery from power outages or system performance metrics, but they do not define the fundamental principle of fault tolerance, which is about maintaining functionality despite component issues. Preventing all system failures is an unrealistic goal in complex systems, making that option unsuitable as well.