How do you prepare for a server going down?

[terrahawk]

Hi,

Wondering what sort of contingency plans people have for when a server goes down (e.g., throw in/configure spare server)?

I'm in a small office with 20 W2K PCs, 1 W2K File & Print Server (Compaq Proliant ML370); 1 NT 4 SQL/ColdFusion Server. I back up both servers each night and we are part of our head offices W2K Active Directory.

For most network stuff, I call in a contract engineer. Just trying to think of ways to minimize down time.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[terrywilson]

Firstly, consider the hardware you are running it on and what you are trying to protect yourself from. An investment in a server with Raid, dual power supplies can save you a morning's work should you suffer a hardware failure.

Another path you could consider is mirroring the systems (ideally off-site). if you can afford another server there is no reason why you couldn't have it mirror the other for users data, act as a domain controller and even double up as a database server that is setup in some sort of replication to keep it up to date.

This isn't what you would call an elequont solution, but it is relatively straightforward to implement.

Having an additional server also lends itself to using packages that can monitor your live server and step-in within a few seconds if it goes down (Can't think of any names, but I was at an obviously memorable presentation the other night).

 

[terrahawk]

Thanks for the tips Terry. Our servers are on Raids and have 2-3 power supplies. They've been very reliable.

I want to look into the off site mirroring idea some more. I am already paying for an offsite hosting service for our ColdFusion Apps (which I backup to our office). This still leaves one SQL app and our File & Print Server on site.

Last year, I did ask our head office (who has network people) about backing up data to them as well but they thought it would be to slow (both sites are on T1's though). Now, we are tied even closer to them (on their Exchange Server & VPN) so maybe I need to keep pushing for them to setup/maintain a backup server for me. I'll look into some other offsite backup options as well.

Peter

 

[technome]

Peter

On your raids you should have "hotspare" drives. "Cold spare" also, if you have the resources. I try to have both at my clients; drives become difficult to obtain, and the exact make, model and firmware even more so.

Large battery backup units

No direct telco lines to system unless highly surge protected

And for the ulimate, have "Double Take" from NSI software to create a replicated server. Software is great, byte level replication. Have it at one client, fast and is the least demanding on the machines involved. The software will do Wan replication at byte level but remember a large bandwidth would still be needed ( VPN pipe needed for data protection- demanding).
My client has the replicated server located in a building connected by fiber. This client does not need automated failover, so basically should the main server fail, I must rename the server and change the IP address. Why no failover ? On this system I need to reboot the main server for "installs", patches ect. at night, frequently. Auto failover becomes combersome for this ( possible, but requires more effort); at this site a small down time of 5 minutes is not a problem.

Double Take is expensive ( Sunbelt Software discounts) at about $3000.00/server, but for client with the resourses, this is it.
Beware of many other products in this group, most do not work at byte level or require a complete replication of all files if any of the servers involved are restarted. If I restart the a server with Doubletake, it syncs with the other servers in 1 hour and 20 minutes ( 160 gig raid 5. This would be critical if over a WAN.

 

[terrahawk]

Thanks for the software name (Double Take), that helps.