Do Not Hesitate to Address the Elephant in the Server Room

If there is a problem that everyone is hesitant to address, that problem is called "the elephant in the room". Many businesses may find that, these days, those elephants live in their server rooms. Let's acknowledge these elephants and discuss a few ways that you can evict them from your organization’s IT.

Server Software Requires an Update... or Multiple Updates
A server serves as the epicenter of a business, the central point that authorizes each workstation to share data with each other. This makes it imperative to keep your server’s software up-to-date. If you don't keep that software current, your server will not be able to send and receive data as efficiently as your organization needs.

Also, an updated server is also much more resilient against cyberattacks. As hackers and other malicious users are always working to improve their strategies, the only way to keep your servers -and by extension, your company-protected is to keep the security that protects them up-to-date. Just because your defenses were able to prevent one attack doesn’t mean they’ll be able to stop the next.

Continuing to Keep Your Servers Maintained
It is critical to remember that there is much more to your servers than their software. The hardware that powers your server also needs some TLC in order for your company to maintain operations.

To keep your servers properly maintained, you need to go through a few specific activities on a regular basis to ensure your network has a reliable foundation. Dust can wreak chaos on your IT components, so keeping dust and other debris away from your server is an important concern. The entirety of your company relies in some way or another on that server, so in order to maintain business operations, you need to keep it in standard working order. It is also important to realize that even the most well-maintained technology will not last forever. Your server’s components will inevitably need to be replaced.

Recognizing that regular maintenance is a priority will help you get the most out of your servers, optimizing your return on your investment and making it easier to replace them when the time comes.

Contemplating Virtualization
A company will often require that many applications are running in tandem with one another, which may eventually lead to a necessity for multiple servers as the organizations grows. As a result, the company is then responsible for supporting and maintaining each of these high-end devices, in addition to powering them and cooling them. This is an expensive option, especially when a company’s server needs can be consolidated to a single device via virtualization.

By dividing a powerful server into sections, that single server can then host numerous operating systems, each OS with its own resources. By doing this, a company can take numerous servers, each operating at a fraction of their capacity, and substitute them with a single server that still meets their requirements.

Unlike the elephants in any given room, your server’s problems can't go unacknowledged. Macro Systems is in the elephant-wrangling business, at least where IT is involved. Call us today at 703-359-9211 for assistance with your IT, infrastructure and all.