Server Optimization and Maintenance
In the current technology environment, servers are not always needed. When they are needed however, special care must be taken to protect and properly maintain them. Since servers contain critical business data, it is critical that you protect this data and your investment.
Server Optimization and Maintenance:
6 elements needed for a proper server environment
1 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) – Also called battery backup, a UPS is one of the most common protections for IT equipment. In the event of a power outage, the battery will protect server from going down in a short-term outage. There are some models that will shut the server down when the power fails. Although no equipment can protect you from all power spikes a UPS will protect you from most.
2 Dedicated power circuit – With servers as well as IT and Audio-visual equipment it is important to put it on a dedicated electrical circuit that cannot be accessed by others. The reason is to keep non-IT/AV equipment (power tools, vacuum cleaners, coffee pots, etc.) from being plugged in to the same circuit as this sensitive equipment and causing electrical problems (surges, spikes, etc.) that could damage your equipment.
3 Physical security – It is important that you have your server in a safe location where it cannot be tampered with such as a locked closet or equipment rack. This will keep the server from intentional or unintentional harm (unexpected power down, theft of equipment/data, etc.)
4 Data Backup – It is very critical that ALL your business data be backed-up on a regular basis. Businesses that lose business data have a high rate of business failure that follows. The chances of hardware failure, natural disaster, fire, flood etc. during the life of your server is a concern. The chance data loss during one of these server failure events is significant. If there is a good backup of your data, it can be restored, and your business keeps running relatively un-interrupted.
5 Redundant Hardware – If the tolerance of the business to downtime is low, several server hardware options can be used to reduce downtime. These options include redundant power supplies, fans, hard drives, etc. These extra options often significantly increase the cost of hardware and should only be used in the right situation.
6 Mirrored/Failover server – In some highly critical environments where downtime is very disruptive and costly, you may find that an entire backup server will be configured for standby to take over at a moment’s notice while the server data is kept the synced between both servers. Alternatively, the second server may be sharing the workload with the first. This is a rare need and for most business this kind of configuration will not be warranted
Selecting the correct mix of these factors is critical to make sure a significant investment does not turn into an unnecessary drag on your business.
Are you missing any of these important elements?
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