Network Guru question

[Bob Thomas]

Well, when it rains, it becomes a monsoon!!

Ok....

1. We run a D/C, Exchange and a seperate server for the in-house records management. The $15k was to put the D/C and In-house into 1 server with some larger backup systems. I'll have to get the original quote to see what was involved/suggested but we thought it was pretty high!!!
2. Got in today and was informed the internet/email was down. Tracked and found that it appears our firewall took some sort of hit and is toast. Typing now on a seperate computer attached directly to the modem. Fantastic news!
3. We had some great figures for IT and, about 5 years ago, converted our wiring (eaten by mice) to Gigabit wiring and moved the servers to a dedicated server room. That's when we purchased all the servers and made some great updates. Since then, the only places to cut was the IT or we'd lose bodies. Pretty bad situation.
4. If you think WE have it bad, the town is even worse. They could not find their server (you read that right) for about 2 weeks. Someone finally tracked the wires back and found it in a closet. It is probably as old as me

Talked to the IT company today. They were able to get in before the firewall crashed. It was backing up some very unnecessary items and they believe it will be cut down by about 15 gig. When we install a new version of the in-house software, the vendor makes a seperate backup of the records. Apparently, there were about 4 of these redundant backups. Confirmed with them and it is unnecessary to back them up again as long as the primary information makes the tapes...which it does.

They also said it appears very little is being missed during the failed backups, namely the exchange server. Personally, I could care less if my email does not make it....less responsibility for me

I just can't believe everything is crashing down at once. We're wondering if the ice storms (previous and current) had anything to do with it all. We were on generator for 3 days and they've been changing cable & power lines ever since. We'll see. I need a break...this is ridiculous!!

Thanks again...I'll let you know what happens...if we ever get back up and running!!

[Raven]

chewing thru wires...

i recently bought a tin cat mouse trap...

i put half a chunk of bird suet cake inside of it...

and thus far in two weeks have caught ten mice...

there 17 bucks but worth the price...

[kenyee]

Originally Posted by Bob Thomas

The $15k was to put the D/C and In-house into 1 server with some larger backup systems.
...
firewall took some sort of hit and is toast.
...
They could not find their server (you read that right) for about 2 weeks. Someone finally tracked the wires back and found it in a closet.

$15K still sounds a bit high for one new server and the work to migrate two servers into one and to add a backup system. My guess would be around $10K (roughly 1-1.5 days of labor) with around $6-7K for the hardware (and the servers should be virtualized so future migrations are easy). If you get the chance, you should ask that IT company if there are any email purge policies in place...I'm still suspecting you have a lot of old email in people's mailboxes.

Do you guys have UPS's at all? If not, I'm really surprised. That should be part of any server setup and should include the firewall. Power outages/spikes will kill equipment; if not immediately, they damage the power convertors inside.

That server story reminds me of an AS/400 story...a company a while back had drywalled the room the AS/400 was in shut and no one knew where it was...they didn't notice is was missing for 5 years and dug it out only because they wanted to know where it was. Those systems are ridiculously priced and slow compared to PC's but they'll run forever without crashing or needing reboots

[Bob Thomas]

Raven,

The town has tried everything. Problem is that the PD is in the old Digital Building. The "basement" is a dirt basement with wires exposed and wonderful Asbestos covered pipes. They have had a company in about 3 times to try to rid the place of mold. I had to go down there and help run the new cables (not dragging on the dirt like the last bunch) and let me tell you. I will NEVER go down there again. It was awful!

Kenyee,

We're running UPS' on each of the servers and each of the PC's. I.e. each has a dedicated UPS. I just got off the phone with the IT company and they all have come to the conclusion that the recent ice storms, outages, and line replacement may have sent a "spike" through the line and reset the firewall & messed up some other things. They said although the UPS' looked fine, they were 4.7 years old and could probably use a new battery. Also, they said that one of the servers UPS software was corrupted somehow so they reinstalled it and should be back on line.

We're trudging through this mess and realizing we'll need upgrades very soon. Going to be watching the funds at the end of the fiscal year and see if we can't swing a new server.....keeping our fingers crossed!

Again, thanks to all of you for the support, suggestions and help. It has truly been "eye opening" as to what we're going to need. I know just enough to get myself in trouble and you guys are helping me make heads or tails out of this.

Everyone be safe and Happy New Year!

[Bob Thomas]

Well, that didn't last long.

Ended up having the company remote in and create new backup setup. They tried to eliminate as much as they could. We got about 5 successful backups but are, once again, failing due to space. As of Monday, we had 3 gb available but quickly used that.

I've started having people delete as much junk as the could but I fear we're up the creek with a boatload of crap and no paddle.

Going to have to break the bad news to the boss tomorrow...going to be a rough one! Could not come at a worse time!

Is there anything we could connect to the network without cracking the server boxes open that would backup our system? I.e. a stand-alone backup option?