The need for server recovery software and services, from RAID to Oracle to Exchange, has grown markedly in the past five years, owing mainly to the lower prices of server systems. In the early part of the century, for example, small to mid-sized organizations tended to acquire and use less high end products, but as overall server costs began to lessen markedly, the demand for these mission critical programs increased. Now, it\’s common to see companies with less than 10 staff members operating a new Microsoft Exchange server, storing their customer data on a RAID server or handling their CRM on a NAS. Use of these technologies can, however, prove to be a double-edged sword.

Everyone knows that the tighter ties and increased accountability in a small organization is what makes such an organization a dynamic one. The decisionmaking process, as a important example, is performed with far greater efficiency, because of the smaller number of stakeholders involved. Staff are often encouraged to take responsibility, and use their skills without direct orders. While this kind of organization can offer a rewarding experience for all involved, it can exaggerate mistakes in situations where server recovery may be important. IT administrators for small organizations tend to get comfortable with \”doing it themselves\”, which can typically prove quite harmful during a catastrophic hard drive failure.

Developing A Server Recovery Action Plan

The \”invulnerability factor\” with smaller successful organizations can bleed into the management of IT assets, as evidenced by smaller companies\’ lack of server recovery planning. Isn\’t a RAID server naturally \”redundant\”, after all? On the other hand, RAID servers, especially in cases where more than a single hard drive fails, can go down hard, leaving a dependent organization unable to function, imprisoned by a mission critical app that just isn\’t functioning. Creating a server recovery plan is crucial, then, and should include these points:

Gather Important Resources – One of the simplest ways to plan for server data recovery is simply to gather crucial resources like vendor sites, support forums and hard drive recovery vendors and have details ready for all IT staff. No one wants to be looking for these important resources when the organization is halted because of a failed RAID server – planning helps to avoid one of the most critical data killers: panic.

Expertise Pays Dividends – IT administrators, often, have a wide array of expertise in their field. In fact, it is this encyclopedic knowledge of IT assets and products that makes them an extremely critical part of any organization, no matter how small. The problem here is that as a result, IT administrators typically work alone, and devise solutions on a do it yourself basis. Attempting do-it-yourself server recovery, meanwhile, is one of the most difficult and potentially harmful act someone without hard drive recovery experience can do. And because 99 out of 100 organizations do not employ someone with actual physical hard drive recovery experience (nor do they have the specialized equipment), it is important to have the contact details for an expert. It never hurts to ask for help, and in this scenario, it will be necessary to avoid further issues.

Backup Backup Backup – Repetition is for effect here, but naturally backing up your servers weekly in the very least, daily or hourly at the most is one of the most basic, and frankly, most proactive thing that an administrator can do. What if your Oracle server database crashed one day as the result of a double RAID hard disk drive failure? Now what if you could restore all operations and get back on track within an hour with the use of an extra lower end system? This is what a backup plan can , and the resource savings can be truly phenomenal. Suddenly an \”emergency\” isn\’t so tragic, and may appear seamless to even the hardiest of users. Once in motion, a solid backup plan not only provides you with options, but saves a lot of face during tough times.

Being proactive is crucial to every IT administrator\’s function, and this preparedness must stretch to all areas of responsibility. This is the best way to ensuring your server recovery is flawless.

Author Bio: Maureen Davies is a seasoned data recovery technician and the webmaster and editor of http://www.harddriverecovery.org. Find out more about server recovery and fix your own hard drive failure problems here.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: server recovery, server repair,recover hard drive, hard drive recovery, hard drive data recovery