Last week one of our clients’ servers suffered a major failure. We quickly ascertained that the server was well and truly dead. The company in question – just like many businesses over the last few years – had pushed the life of the server beyond normal recommendations.

Unfortunately, as a server (or any item of IT equipment) gets older, the likelihood of failure increases. But fortunately for our client, we had recognised the risk and advised that if they intended to keep their old server running, they should at least invest in a good backup solution. 

We remotely monitor all our clients’ backups, so we knew that when the server in question gave up the ghost, the most recent backup was sound and could be used to get things up and running again with the minimum of fuss.

We returned the backup to our workshop and virtualised it on to one of our loan servers.  Within just 45 minutes, this duplicate server was fully functional and, after initial tests, we were able to return to our client and install it on site.

By way of a modern and permanent replacement for the old server, we recommended a hybrid cloud solution comprising a cost-effective HP Micro Server and cloud-hosted email, with the existing backup system also being incorporated.

So, as they say, all’s well that ends well. But working with old servers and/or not employing an effective backup solution can cost your business dear.

For more information about our backup solutions, our recommendations on server life, or a FREE IT Review (which includes an IT risk assessment) simply email us or call us on 01225 636000.