Avoid Network Spaghetti with Proper Setup
What is a computer network? To some folks it looks
like a huge mess of wires, cables, and equipment. In the right light
it could remind you of a big messy pile of spaghetti. In truth it's
the architecture of connecting two or more computers together so
they can communicate, share data, and minimize workload efforts.
Production is the name of the game and a strong network is vital to the process. A couple of things to consider when designing your network topology are:
Get a Dedicated Server
A lot of people feel their work computer is powerful enough to handle the work load a server would perform, but surfing, emailing, video conferencing and using other resource intensive processes can bring your machine to a crawl. So I recommend a dedicated server to run your applications and store data in addition to the total number of workstations.
Organize Your Equipment
It's important to situate your equipment in a neat fashion, servers
near servers, printers near printers, and so on. It also helps to
put an external label on your equipment so you know which machine
is which. When everything is neat and orderly it's easier to maintain
a healthy network.
Invest in UPS Battery Backups
Battery backup is a must for any digital data producing/processing devices. Electrical storms, surges, spikes, brown outs, or unplugging the wrong machine can damage or even destroy your equipment. So battery backup is important.
One mid grade UPS per workstation/server is usually adequate. However, it also depends on the size of a server. For example, a large Dell Power Edge raid server with redundant power supplies would require a bigger UPS.
Provide Ideal Working Conditions
Just about anything that runs on electricity generates heat. Heat
and delicate electrical components don't mix well. Excessive heat
can damage your computers and bring them to a stop. Try and keep
your equipment in an area no warmer than room temperature, between
70 and 80 degrees F. This will help the life of your server and
also help keep your temperature down.
Computers also like well ventilated areas. If it's been stuffed
under your desk for a while, chances are there is a bit of dust
built up around the fan vents and inside the unit itself. Dust build
up of these areas can also add to heat build up. You should use
canned air to clean your machines out once a month as rule of thumb.
Happy computer = happy you.
Track Your Bandwidth Usage
Bandwidth requirements. Ahhhh the silent killer. Without the proper
bandwidth, even though your workstation may run applications at
blinding speeds, if you're working across the network, it can come
to a crawl.
Bandwidth has several different forms, from what you have to access the Internet, to the amount of data transfer on your local LAN.
A few things that can kill your bandwidth are: FTP-pirates/hackers,
audio/video-streaming, uploads/downloads, incompatible networking
equipment, faulty network wiring, failing NIC cards, mass mailing
viruses, older operating systems with newer operating systems on
the same network, software and hardware firewalls, virus scanners,
and security suites. So it's important to make sure everything is
configured correctly and running to specs.
There are also applications that can monitor your total bandwidth usage as well as the bandwidth usage of individual computers. This is a good way to monitor if you are leaking bandwidth somewhere.
And an often over-looked but very
IMPORTANT feature to any good network is… drum-roll, please…
Backup Your Data
That's right folks; data backup is one of the most important features
of a healthy network. What good is your last four months of crucial
accounting data, if your hard drive crashes and you have no recent
back up of it? As the pop-culture icon/philosopher Homer Simpson
says, "D'OH!"
With a simple back up device, you can avoid this gruesome fate. Back up devices come in all sizes and flavors from inexpensive zip drives to heavy hitting DLT and DAT drives. You can even use a writable CD or DVD drive.
I could go on all day about data backup...
Use a Redundant Data Backup
TOPS Software has an awesome Internet data back up solution that offers scheduled backups of your important association data, and the ability to retrieve those backups from any location, not just your data server.
The beauty of the TOPS Internet Backup Service is the fact that the backups are stored online on two servers in two separate locations, giving you the security of having redundant, off-site backups, should anything happen to your office.
We are currently running a special on the TOPS Internet Backup Service, so now is a great time to sign up!
So, avoiding network spaghetti isn't all that difficult to do. With
the right tools, a healthy environment, a little preventive maintenance,
and some patience on your part, you can set up your network properly,
and keep it running smoothly for a long time to come.
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