[K12OSN] I need opinions....backup idea for when Terminal server down and I'm not around

Kevin Myer kevin_myer at iu13.org
Sat Jul 9 19:06:42 UTC 2005


I'd second the idea of building failover and redundancy into your backend
servers.  Build or buy a server that has redundant NICs, power supplies, disk
drives, etc.  Build or buy a server that is exactly the same as the one 
you use
in production and keep it up to date and mirror the configs.  When you need to
update something for security purposes, try it out on your spare first, work
out the kinks, then make the spare your production server and wait a few days
and update your old production server.  If something tanks after an 
upgrade you
have an easy backout strategy.

These are general principals, but certainly apply to K12LTSP:
1)  Plan for redundancy - buy two of every server, identically configured if
possible
2)  Plan for backout - always be able to revert to a known good config 
or known
good version of software (two servers helps a lot with this)
3)  Test your failover/redundancy plan periodically - know how things 
will react
in an emergency, such as a down server.  Do staff know what cables to 
switch or
switches to throw?  Is there a way to make this seamless and transparent by
using a failover technology?

Kevin

-- 
Kevin M. Myer
Senior Systems Administrator
Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13  http://www.iu13.org




More information about the K12OSN mailing list