It’s not uncommon for a small business to have that one person in the office who is a little more computer savvy than average and soon becomes the go-to guy or gal for all things IT related. This works out well because it can keep costs down; no dedicated IT person required and reduced visits from the 3rd party IT company. In the short term this is fine, but over time this can be frustrating and costly when that person is incapable or lacks the time to address all the issues that may crop up.
Here are 7 things that may not be taken care of in your system that you should be asking about.
- Backups
This is always number one. Are they being managed? Who’s doing it? Are they actually running? Always double check this! - Power Surges
Where is everything plugged in? It is not a good idea to plug a computer directly into the wall. Any rouge flicker in the power can wreak havoc on the delicate circuits of your computer. Use a surge protector in the very minimum. Try not to put power hogs on the same circuit as your computer. When that laser printer or that portable heater fires up, it creates that power surge you’re trying to protect against. In the very least, don’t share a power bar. Try and get it on a different wall socket. - Brown Outs
Unlike a power surge, where there is just a brief spike in power, a brown out goes low and stays there for a larger interval of time. This can cause problems for difference reasons, but mostly it’s because your device is working harder to extract the power it needs. If your systems are in an area where the lights are dimming regularly or other indications of weird power, make sure your power systems can handle low power, as well as spikes. - Power Outages
Don’t want to loose your work when the power goes out? Get a uninterruptible power supply or what’s more commonly known as a UPS. This device is a lot like a surge protector, but in addition to cleaning the power, it will keep things running if the power goes out. Most servers will have a device like this, because sudden loss of power when many people are transferring information can be disastrous. Does yours have one? - Batteries
So lets assume your server has a UPS. When was the last time someone looked at it, or even tested it? A UPS has an array of batteries to run off of when the power goes out, but these batteries have a life span. If your batteries have expired, your UPS is nothing but a very large surge protector and when the power goes out, it won’t be there to back you up. - Room Temperature
Servers are often locked in a small room. Has anyone been in there lately? Servers create a lot of heat that will often require an air conditioner to remove it from the room. If this device fails, a small room can quickly reach temperatures the can be damaging to servers. If you do have an air conditioner, is it in good shape and has it been drained lately? Some air conditioners as a normal part of operations will build up water that needs to be drained manually. - Storage Capacity
These days, every server comes with so much capacity, it seems like you are never going to run out, but even if you have huge total capacity, there are still things to watch out for. Often the system or “C:” drive is partitioned off from the rest of the drive and has a small set of available space and this can run out fast. If this runs out, things are going to come to a grinding halt. Often it just just being consumed by temporary files or misplaced user files, so it is easy to fix.
In conclusion, keep an eye on your business solutions. Even though everything is working now, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a disaster waiting in the wings. Just like your car, your technical systems need maintenance. If you don’t do the digital equivalent of checking your oil once in a while, you’re going to have problems.
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