Tag Archive for: Virtualization.

Businesses operate in a volatile world where unforeseen events such as cyberthreats and natural disasters can strike at any moment. To ensure your company’s survival, it’s essential to have the following business continuity strategies in place.

Back up your data

The most effective way to ensure business continuity is to back up your data regularly. Having a comprehensive data backup strategy is like having insurance for your most valuable digital assets. If any of your systems fail, become corrupted, or are inaccessible, these backups will allow you to quickly recover and minimize downtime.
When backing up your data, it’s important to consider off-site backups in addition to on-premises solutions. This will ensure that your data is safe in the event of a physical disaster, such as a fire or flood at your primary location. Additionally, cloud-based backup solutions can provide added security and accessibility for your data during times of crisis.

Virtualize your IT infrastructure

Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual version of a physical IT resource, such as a server or desktop. The virtualized resources are put into a virtual machine, which can be easily replicated and migrated to other physical machines as if it were a simple file. This allows for quick and efficient disaster recovery, as virtual machines can be easily backed up and restored to new hardware if necessary. Virtualization essentially provides flexibility and scalability, making it easier to recover your systems and maintain operations without extended downtime.

Install a UPS

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are essential components of your business continuity strategy. They offer protection against power interruptions and surges, allowing your systems to continue running even during electrical outages. A UPS provides a buffer period for you to shut down your systems safely or transition to backup power sources, reducing the risk of data loss and downtime.

Consider a secondary recovery site or temporary hot desk arrangement

In scenarios where your primary business location becomes inaccessible due to natural disasters or other crises, having a secondary recovery site or temporary hot desk arrangement is a lifesaver. This tactic ensures that your employees can continue working, even when the primary workspace is unavailable. Establish agreements with co-working spaces or set up an alternative location where your team can temporarily relocate and access the necessary resources to keep your operations running smoothly.

Implement cloud solutions for remote work

The cloud has revolutionized the way businesses operate and has become a vital component of modern business continuity plans. Cloud solutions provide the flexibility to enable remote work, allowing your team to access essential applications and data from anywhere with an internet connection. This is particularly valuable during unforeseen disruptions, as your employees can work from home or any location, maintaining productivity and business operations.
If you want to ensure business continuity, we can help you develop and implement a comprehensive business continuity plan. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

Your company’s servers will eventually need to be replaced. To conserve and maximize your resources, you need to anticipate the best time to do this, as well as consider alternatives that offer the same — if not better — outcomes for your business.

When do my servers need to be replaced?

This is a difficult question, but there are two factors you will want to consider: age and performance. The useful life of a server is around three years. While it’s not unheard of for servers to function properly beyond year three, relying on them past this point can be risky, as hardware problems may occur more often. This means you will have to deal with costly repairs and possible sudden downtime.

In terms of performance, it doesn’t make sense to keep your servers around until year three if they are slow and too costly to maintain. It’s important to compare how much money you will lose in repairs and downtime versus the cost of buying new hardware.

Do I have an alternative to buying new servers?

Believe it or not, the answer to your server problems might not necessarily be purchasing more physical servers. One solution is to embrace server virtualization. This process allows your servers to be stored and maintained off-site, with all your resources being delivered to your office via the internet.

There are two notable benefits of virtualizing your servers. First, you don’t have to spend a ton of money on new equipment. Second, virtualization is a scalable technology, meaning you only pay for the data capacity you use. For instance, you can have just two and a half servers, if that’s all your business needs. This is in contrast to having physical equipment, which would require your business to either make do with two servers or splurge and buy a third one even if you didn’t need all of that space.

Of course, there are a few things you need to consider before making the switch to server virtualization. One of the biggest issues is security. Ask yourself if you feel comfortable keeping all of your data off-site. While this isn’t a concern for some companies, others may not see this as palatable. There are several workarounds to this issue, including the hybrid option where you keep sensitive data on-site and everything else off-site.

Can I do anything to prevent a full-scale server replacement?

Yes. It’s certainly possible for you to buy some time and give your current servers additional life, but these are short-term fixes, not long-term solutions. Server upgrades are a good place to start if your servers are less than three years old but are performing poorly. Installing additional CPUs or memory may increase server performance at a fraction of the cost of buying new servers.

It’s also possible to extend the life of servers that may have four or five years of wear-and-tear on them via repurposing. Instead of swapping out all of your servers, use the old ones for non-critical processes and purchase new ones to handle critical workloads. This will help you get a better ROI on your technology while avoiding a wholesale hardware purchase, which could cripple your budget.

If you have any questions about your servers and how you can increase their performance, get in touch with us today. We can help you procure new hardware or explore other alternatives such as server virtualization.

To learn more about how to safeguard your business, or if you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment.

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE