If you aren’t scheduling regular Data Center Maintenance you could be leaving your business vulnerable and at risk. As part of your IT infrastructure, your data center stores your most critical data that serves as the core of your business. It’s vital to ensure your data center works at maximum efficiency with periodic checks and inspections. Here’s what to expect from your data center maintenance and what to expect.
Visual Inspection
Even a seasoned in-house IT team may not see the problems that can happen with your data center over the course of the day. If they’re servicing your staff and clients and working on time-sensitive projects, they should not be performing a visual check inspection for your Data Center Maintenance.
Part of the visual inspection should assess whether your data center is full of dust, if it’s damp, and if any hardware or support equipment is loose. Your “visual” check should also include odd noises or lights that aren’t illuminating correctly. Beyond what you’re hearing and seeing, it’s essential to assess whether or not the area is too hot or cold and could impact the safety of your hardware.
Testing
Your ongoing data center maintenance should also include regular testing to identify issues before they spiral out of control. Emergency backup tests, stress tests, and fail-over tests are essential to safeguard your data and ensure its long-term performance and uptime. Regular testing allows you to swap out failing hardware and ensure everything is working as expected to avoid downtime that could negatively impact your business.
Research shows that 59% of Fortune 500 companies deal with a minimum of 1.6 hours of downtime per week, costing upwards of $46 million annually. The cost of ongoing data center maintenance pales in comparison.
Repairs
It may sound obvious that you should leave plenty of time for repairs, but some businesses are so busy they try to get by with patches and quick fixes and hope for the best. However, ignoring the problem could lead to comprehensive and costly repairs that could have been avoided. You also end up spending time and money you didn’t allocate for when you skip regular maintenance. Simply changing out filters and consumables that your hardware requires could be all it takes to keep your data center maintenance in good health.
Disaster Preparedness
It’s easy to fall into the habit of prioritizing data security to avoid cybersecurity breaches at the expense of your data’s physical security. Both your software and hardware should be prioritized in tandem to keep your data safe and prevent disasters before they strike. Your ongoing maintenance should also include a plan for hardware failure. Whether you choose on-call support service with Balata One™ or a dedicated person on staff, you need a disaster plan that you can execute seamlessly.
Technology Updates
In a world where cybersecurity threats are more prevalent than ever before, your ongoing Data Center Maintenance should include a technology check. Is your hardware and software up to date? Are there new threats or security updates that need to be installed? The more up-to-date your systems are, the stronger they are against vulnerabilities and potential attacks.
Reporting and Monitoring
Beyond all of the safety checks and updates your data and hardware needs, reporting and monitoring is also a crucial part of the process. Measurement reports can help analyze trends or weaknesses in your infrastructure and lead to equipment repair and replacements. Reports should be done diligently and on an ongoing basis to ensure the safety of your data center.
Next Steps
Are you ready to keep your company running smoothly and protect your most valuable assets? Balata One™ offers data center maintenance from leading experts in the industry with a proactive approach to helping protect and maintain your network. Contact us today to discuss your server maintenance needs.