Interested in a crash course

Your server is a delicate darling which, like most women, needs tlc -- tender loving care. here's how

Interested in a crash course

Your server is a delicate darling which, like most women, needs tlcu00a0-- tender loving care. here's how

In its debut in the online space, the Common Admission Test (CAT) met with grave embarrassment when its server crashed on the first day, resulting in a faulty start that affected 12,000 odd aspirants, if not more. A server is the nucleus of any network that operates round the clock to provide a particular and specific service to other machines connected to it. It's here that all the data is saved, so a mess-up can lead to utter crisis.

Simple preventive measures can however avoid server failure to some extent. FYI gets you a brief tutorial.

Sound surround
Ambient heatu00a0 generally causes server breakdowns because high temperature damage the hard drive. So make sure your server space is properly ventilated and install special heat-fending fans that are available for the purpose.

Move it with care
A server is most prone to physical damage while relocation so utmost care is needed in this regard.u00a0 Make sure that the equipment doesn't receive too many shocks or bumps. "To protect servers, whether physical or virtualised, you need multiple layers of defense.u00a0 You have to ensure that the security policies, protection mechanisms and system integrities are in place," stresses Abhinav Karnwal, product marketing manager, APEC, Trend Micro, a software solutions giant.u00a0u00a0

Keep it updated
Don't ignore the update pop-ups, because they save much more than you pay for them. The operating system and anti-virus must be updated continuously. The recent CAT server crash was reportedly sparked by virus attacks.u00a0"The problems can be largely be avoided by good design and planning. For example, for something like CAT exams, a simple performance and load testing session could have avoided the problem. It might sound trivial, but merely reducing the size of images in a single question could have saved gigabytes of load on exam days", reasons Sunny Neogi, Senior Marketing and Alliance Manager, Aditi Technologies, a national-level web-tech developer.

Three must-eteers
The server is not something you can set up, lock in a four-walled compartment and forget for a month. Three activitiesu00a0-- disk scan, virus scan and defragmentationu00a0-- must be carried out regularly. The disc scan brings out the loopholes in the way the server space is being used, the virus scan will keep away all external threats, and the defragmetation will make sure that files are rearranged in the best possible manner according to the space available on the hard disk of the server.u00a0

End it like Beckham
A firm must have proper systems in place to decide who can access or supply information to the server. Also, end point devises like desktops, laptops and removable media should be secured before being connected to the network.

Back-up's a must
However hard you try, machines faulter, like most of us. There's bound to be data loss, but its effects and the financial loss arising out of it can be minimised by constantly creating a proper back up of critical data, which will ensure that you can retrieve important information without spending a heavy amount on data recovery services. The back-up can either be done on local internal drives or external devices like compact disks, tapes and external drives. Better late than never.u00a0