eMazzanti Technologies

Sometimes You Need A Pro
Buying and installing a new server

So, you’re going to run to your favorite PC store and slap in a new server? Unless you are a certified IT person, allow us to politely offer this piece of advice:

"No slapping without a professional, please."
In past issues of eMazzanti’s Technologies Newsletter we have offered advice on when to upgrade your server. This time we focus on avoiding the big mistakes once you do. There are decisions to be made about hardware, software, network connections and, perhaps, most important of all, whom to entrust with getting it up and on its feet.

Make the right choice, and your new server be running smoothly from the first day. Make the wrong choice and it won’t. Committed "do-it-yourselfers", who pride themselves in being "do-it-yourselfers", are inevitably the most likely  to end up calling in the cavalry.

These are a few ways you can really screw it up:

1. Not having a plan.
What sort of hardware and software should you select, and what do you want the server to do? Make a wish list for your server needs. Do you want to make certain tasks easier for your employees? Is there a specific capability you need that will impact your customers? With this list in hand, you’ll be better equipped to talk to a local tech solution provider about what best fits your needs.

2. Not hiring a pro.
You should know us well enough by now to understand we don’t often promote our services within our newsletter advice columns. But, this time it’s imperative to commit yourself to a professional to set up your server. There’s no getting around this fact.

When choosing someone, be sure he or she has a small business focus, the experience and certifications in small business systems and the ability to meet your reliability criteria. A competent IT consultant will set you up with a server, document how the server works, and how it will meet your needs. A server guru will also advise about likely future needs — and prepare you for them.

3. Not considering future needs
If you don’t hire a pro to help you choose the most technical requirements, keep in mind you’re going to need to some "head room" as you grow.

Any good server should have redundant components and be built more robustly than a desktop computer. In general, a server should have multiple hard drives, the ability to support multiple processors, support for larger amounts of RAM than desktops, and fast network cards. It may also have redundant power supplies, redundant drive controllers, and a back-up system.

The presence of multiple hard drives is probably the most important feature. With multiple hard drives, it is possible to set up the computer so that a copy of each piece of data is kept on separate drives. That way, if one hard drive fails, no data is lost.

4. Not playing it safe.
You are going to spend a fair amount of time deciding what kind of server to buy. But how about security to prevent hackers and viruses from infiltrating your system? Remember, your server is going to be connected to the Internet, and will be vulnerable to hackers.

If you embark on your server adventure with a roadmap and all the right resources, you’ll find that bringing a server online isn’t so difficult. Take shortcuts by doing it yourself , and you could end up in a long hard struggle.

In other words, this is no time to go solo — even if you want to save a little money.