The Dangers Of Neglecting Your Server

The other day I was driving to one of my clients and I passed an old neglected carved bear statue on the side of the road that some carver apparently forgot about and left on display.  I've grown quite fond of that bear as it sits out in all kinds of weather deteriorating with time.  I've even given him a name (Ralph) and look for him every time I drive down that road.  I've often thought of trying to rescue try to restore him but my wife responds with "What are you going to do with a 6 foot wooden bear and where do you intend to keep it? . . . and NO, he won't fit in the family room!"

The last time I passed good old Ralph, I suddenly was hit with the parallels that exist between his plight and the network servers that people ask us to resurect after years of similar neglect.  Ok, maybe they don't leave their servers out in the rain and snow or let birds roost on them and cover them with droppings but there are parallels.

More often than not, when we're called to rescue a server we find them stuck in poorly ventilated closets, in dank basements, or in hot furnace rooms and covered in dust.  Servers are often treated as much as an afterthought as poor old Ralph.  We've had to rescue servers sitting in pools of water in school closets located directly beneath the boys bathroom at a school.  Another set of servers died when they overheated because a school kept them running all summer in an unventilated room with the air conditioning turned off during one of  the hotest summers on record.

The differnce between these situations and poor Ralph's plight is that the wood carver didn't entrust all of his critical business information to his wooden bear. 

Over 25 years in business, we've development certain expectations of clients that are almost univeraly true.

1. Unless we nag a client to update their technology, they'll try to run them until they fall apart without regard for their expected useful life.  It amazes me how people will buy new vehicles every couple of years to avoid something going wrong with them but will run their computers forever knowing fully well that all of their business data may be at risk.
    
2. Most organizations won't budget  sufficient funds for replacement equipment and seem surprised when we tell them that a computer needs to be retired due to age.  I was asked to work on a computer yesterday that was still running Windows 2000 Pro and we still have a client running Windows Server 2000.  Those suckers are over 13 years old!
    
3. If left to their own devices, clients will stick their servers in the most awful location they can find.
    
4. That same client will express shock when that server fails because of the conditions in that location.  Example:  "I didn't know that computers needed ventilation."

Just so we're clear, here are some rules for you to follow:

1. Servers have an effective life of about 4 years.  There's a reason that the standard manfacturer warranty for a server is only 3 years.  They expect that things will start going wrong after that.  Budget and plan accordingly!
2. Servers need to be in well ventilated and dry environments.  Forget about sticking them in a closet unless you make SERIOUS efforts for proper ventilation and plan on keeping it clean.  AND DON'T STACK THINGS OR AROUND IT!!!!! 
3. Computer cooling systems act as giant vacuum cleaners for dust and dirt and suck all of that onto the electronic components inside.  Plan to have your computers cleaned at least annually.  More so if you're in an enviroment that is dirty (factories, golf courses or garden shops). 
4. Real servers have environmental monitoring systems that you should pay attention to.  If a fan fails inside a server, the resultant rise in temperature will likely shorten the life of your server and/or hard drives.
5. Unreliable power sources can shorten the life of your servers by browning out or spiking the electricity.  Make sure you have a good UPS with voltage control.  Brown outs will dramtically shorten the usefullness of your UPS by over-using its battery.  Replace your UPS battery on a regular basis. A surge protector is NOT an adequate substitute for an UPS.

I hope that this information clears up any boubt in your mind about caring for your server.  And finally, don't worry about poor Ralph, I'm clearing a space in my office and when my wife isn't looking . . .