running server

[laszlo]

Hi all,

I have searched a lot about my question an decided to try here also:

for ex. i'm running a hp server for a company and i'm responsible of maintenance whatever happens.

if the server die (mobo .. etc) and i must wait maybe 1 week before a replacement is available the company can't work and what can i do in order to give them a viable solution to work with all the data from the f..ked server? ( data is stored in 5 hdd so i don't think i'll loose it all )

i was thinking if is possible to make an image of OS and use it in another pc running as a virtual pc; of course a different hardware maybe implied and in my conception to run the server as emulation on this pc to keep the business alive for the company.

is this possible or other viable option exist?

 

[Disparia]

What does the server handle?

If we're just talking about file sharing, then have another machine, NAS, etc, regularly sync with the data.

If it handles more complex services such as a domain, Exchange, MSSQL, then you might want to start working on your contingency plan now. An image of the server may very well be workable solution in your case.

 

[Mike0409]

What does the server handle?

If we're just talking about file sharing, then have another machine, NAS, etc, regularly sync with the data.

If it handles more complex services such as a domain, Exchange, MSSQL, then you might want to start working on your contingency plan now. An image of the server may very well be workable solution in your case.

+1 to that.

If you dont' have any data backup except what's on the server drives then your going to need something else.

If you purchased a Business Warranty plan with the Server most of the time the Server Warranty's cover 24hr Turn around. And a part will be sent ASAP. Looking at 2 days top's.

But then agian if it becomes backordered or there's no warranty associated to a 24Hr response time..then you have yourself a problem.

Definately start working on something that is going to provide user's to access that data. Be aware if it's a decent group of people accessing the files your going to need Server. XP will not let more than 10 concurrent connections access the machine at once.

 

[laszlo]

the server is mainly for accounting purposes (invoicing warehouse in-out etc) is not xp running official server os and the response time from HP is from 3 days to 1 week ;people working need access to programs and data so they need another "virtual " server is possible;3 days of lack cause more damage than the server cost twice but the company won't buy another... crisis...


i was thinking to clone the server os with all installed soft and run it on other pc if the situation even occur

also if possible to run on a completely different architecture in virtual mode (a good comparison are the ps2 games on pc emulated) basically i don't want that the original server os to be aware that is not on hp hardware but running

 

[Mike0409]

the server is mainly for accounting purposes (invoicing warehouse in-out etc) is not xp running official server os and the response time from HP is from 3 days to 1 week ;people working need access to programs and data so they need another "virtual " server is possible;3 days of lack cause more damage than the server cost twice but the company won't buy another... crisis...


i was thinking to clone the server os with all installed soft and run it on other pc if the situation even occur

also if possible to run on a completely different architecture in virtual mode (a good comparison are the ps2 games on pc emulated) basically i don't want that the original server os to be aware that is not on hp hardware but running

Anytime you do an image you need the EXACT hardware or else the image will fail. You could do a virtual machine, but they use generic HW devices.. I am not sure of VM software that allow's you to emulate an HP server.


Best bet, setup a machine with server, and have it copy over the database app's and use that incase of failure. This a workgroup or a domain environment?

 

[laszlo]

workgroup

i must go ne but i'll be back in 2 hrs

 

[W1zzard]

which os are you running ? assuming windows, consider migrating to vmware if performance requirements allow. for linux i found openvz a good virtualization solution

is the machine located in some kind of datacenter?

 

[Zebeon]

vmware will only run on certain HW though

doesn't server 03 have DFS that you can use (distributed file system) i think.

Should be able to do a mirrored server, if on a LAN environment.....

update: link posted

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/storage/dfs/default.mspx

 

[Deleted member 3]

vmware will only run on certain HW though

doesn't server 03 have DFS that you can use (distributed file system) i think.

Should be able to do a mirrored server, if on a LAN environment.....

update: link posted

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/storage/dfs/default.mspx

Yes, like a Pentium 3 and above. It's only ESX that has actual requirements.

The fact that you don't have an actual manager for the server tells me the company isn't that big, mirroring the whole thing is a bit over the top there.

Virtualization can be a very simple way to make a backup which is very easy to recover and hardware independent. Just make sure you keep storage separated and do back that up. And never keep backups in the same building.