As cluster systems used for high performance computing consist of large number of running servers, one has to solve the low availability problems occurred by the high chance of the server failures. To handle the problems, it is necessary to have the precise definition of available performance of cluster systems that represents availability and performability of the systems simultaneously. Previous research results that mention availability issues lack for concerning system performance such as waiting time and response time in their availability definition. In this paper, we propose a new availability metric for (n, k)-way cluster systems which compose of n primary servers and k backup servers. With the metric, the change of system performance according to arrival rates is captured and the waiting time of a request can be kept below to a certain level. Using various system operating parameters, we calculate availability and downtime of cluster systems along with waiting tine deadline.