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![[Post New]](/Sysforums/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif) 02/07/2008 14:30:39
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Jonathan
SysAid Wiz
Joined: 17/06/2008
Messages: 286
Location: Ireland
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JamieH wrote:How do you setup reoccuring events? I would like to in order to carry out maintance services on our machines every 6months..... 
You need the task project section
go in to this and create notifications ie an email, sms or open a SR. Once you have set these up. You go in to tasks and you can make it
A. Reoccur and B insert a notification
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Cheers
Jonathan
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If it ain't broken then don't break it!!
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07/07/2008 12:47:42
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MaskedWeasel
SysAider
Joined: 07/07/2008
Messages: 14
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I don't actually use a particular schedule on when to replace parts or not to. We're fairly careful with our machines, and we *used* to get a lot of really bad power surges. Ultimately purchasing a UPS (about 30USD per PC) really helped as far as potential blowouts due to power spikes.
Since we don't buy from a vendor anymore, I usually build all the New PCs that come in. This kind of helps as far as our cycle goes >> depending on the parts I buy it will depend on the life of the machine >> Seagates HDDs last extremely long so costs are relatively low in HDD replacement. In the event they do go out the Warranty lasts for a very long time. Warranties on Memory are usually lifetime warranties as well.
Having incremental backups is a must. One way to setup incremental backups (depending on the size of your organization and size of user profiles) Would be to setup a Roamin Profile for their Windows Accounts. This will save all documents automatically to the server when they log out. Its a simple safeguard on user profiles just in case users aren't already saving their most important files to the server.
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25/07/2008 00:28:52
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BigDowgTech1
SysAider
Joined: 24/07/2008
Messages: 1
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Drako786 wrote:
1bigdowg wrote:The subject is preventetive maintenance. Things to do: Every Day, Update your virus and spyware defenitions: Viruses spread within hours, so keeping your antivirus software up to date is essential.
Do an incremental back-up: making a copy of files that have changed since your last full backup is quik and easy.
Reboot when programs crash: Failed applications can cause other programs to falter. Restart you system after every crash to clear it out.
I agree that this is all crucial on the software side, but what about the hardware side. Smoke signals should not be the only way we know that a piece of hardware went bad. I know there is some software built in that gives you a general idea of how things are running, but they don't give you enough information. But that is simply my opinion.
The Hardware Side. Sometimes you get suttle warnings of hardware failure and sometime it just goes all at once. In the event of a hardware failure resulting in a system disaster as you all allready know that is why a full back up is crucial, The main thing is to have a disaster recovery plan. Now I have found a nice program that I run at least once per week that will test all of your hardware devices you can even stress your hardware (Burn IN) and at most times you can find faulty hardware before it fails resulting in a non recoverable system failure. the Program is Tuff Test Pro a good investment at $30.00. Here is the web address; http://tufftest.com/ttp01.htm
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 25/07/2008 00:42:45
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28/07/2008 23:49:56
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Harold.Ballinger
Elite SysAider
Joined: 16/06/2008
Messages: 132
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I think everyone's environment tends to dictate their maintenance and recycle plan, but here is an idea of how we tackle things:
We are a 3 man IT shop responsible for just under 200 physical locations, internet connections, equipment etc. There are between 1-5 workstations at each physical location, except at our corporate office, where we have approximately 40 workstations.
Since we are distributed over a wide geographic area, we have found vendors that guarantee Next Business Day onsite warranty repair/replacement for all of our equipment. We purchase enough warranty to last us 1 year shy of the expected lifecycle. (For example, printers are bought with a 4-5 year warranty and we expect to get 5-6 years lifecycle.) We also carry accidental damage coverage on our laptops and other high ticket items.
If we have a hardware issue, it is covered by warranty during the warranty period. Any equipment that is no longer under warranty is evaluated on a depreciation schedule. If it cost $3000, and it is 5 years through its 6 year lifecycle, we value it at worth $500. If the estimated repairs are more than $500, we retire and don't repair.
Every two years, we revisit all sites for preventative maintenance. We make sure that all surge protection and cabling/physical connections are secure and adhere to our policies & procedures. We update the software on the machines with any firmware updates and with a clean, new standardized image. We use compressed air and wipes to physically clean the equipment, we check for any hardware issues, and we update and verify all inventory details.
During the normal life of a machine, it runs a standard protected image. If there is a problem that can't be resolved remotely with SysAidRC, the users can be walked through a simple procedure to reimage their system volume. Their data is stored on a separate D: drive so that it remains and is available after a reboot. Warranty service is completed onsite, but in some cases, equipment is cross-shipped or delivered onsite for replacement. Printers are all network attached and standardized, so that the IP address for a replacement printer simply needs to be set and they are back up and running.
We probably pay more than most do for each individual machine and warranty, but we quickly make up for that with the savings in reduced labor costs, travel, and IT staffing.
I'd be interested in hearing how others run their departments? It's always great to share and learn along side colleagues.
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07/08/2008 11:46:15
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elemist
Super SysAider
Joined: 31/07/2008
Messages: 51
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Good Reading Harold.
In our case we have a few things in our favour. We lease all desktop/laptop machines with a 2 year schedule with the option to buy out. Now the VP of finance assures me this works well from a finance perspective (which i'll take his word on!). But from an IT perspective its also really good. It means that our fleet gets replaced every two years pretty much with out fail. Our warranty's are purchased with the 2 year option to ensure we're covered in the event of hardware issues. We also have a standard SOE for all machines so if it's a software issue we just re-image the machine and send it on its way.
Some might say this is alot of work, however we only have about 70 nodes and they're purchased sporadically, so one month we might have 5-6 machines to replace. Next month might be none, following month 10. Being a smallish sized business means we rarely go out and purchase 50-100 machines at once. That said i've seen a similar practive in a large firm of over 1000 nodes. In which all were leased in batches of 100. They usually got a work experience kid/couple of temps in to do the simple launch from network, and image. Then they did staged rollouts of 10 PC's a day over a two week period.
For our server infrastructure we ususally purchase outright, with a 3 year 24/7 4hr onsite response time. Works very well the few times i've had to call for service. After the 3 year period once the warranty has expired we purchase a replacement machine, and the old machine is either used to replace an older piece of hardware/a desktop doing a server role (the idea being, a newer server is less likely to fail than a 5 year server, and a out of warranty server is better than a desktop). Or we rebuild and used as a hot spare or even add it to our test environment.
For general network infrastructure (routers, switches etc) its generally a replace as needed or as an upgrade is needed. IE We are currently in the process of replacing our core router as we upgraded our link to 20MB fibre and the router only has a 10MB WAN port. Funnily enough a couple of days after we purchased the new one (and were awaiting delivery) the old one started to play up, randomly going down etc. So timing couldn't have been much better if we tried...
The only other advice i can offer, is to stick with well known brand named products. Whilst alot of smaller businesses tend to go for a cheaper less known product, pretty much every time without fail there will be problems. We stick with solid names such as HP server, desktop and notebook equipment, and Cisco networking infrastructure.
Actually i lied. One other peice of advice. When purchasing equipment in another country, make sure you check what the warranty is like for the specific location, and also the companies presence. In Australia (where im from) HP has a solid presence. If they give you a 4 hour onsite guarentee they will always meet it. When we did work for a client in the south of Vietnam, we've found that A) they don't offer 4 hour onsite warranty's or anything like it. B) the location the office is in (Vung Tau) doesn't have a HP tech. Thus if there is a hardware failure a courier has to be dispatched from Ho Chi Minh nearly 3 hours away to pickup the equipment and take it to the service centre.
I guess at least it doesn't go by donkey like i was expecting though it did go balanced on the back of a motorbike!  
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07/08/2008 14:01:56
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Drako786
Super SysAider
Joined: 19/06/2008
Messages: 63
Location: Elko Nevada USA
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Balanced on a motorbike? I would have been more than worried about that trip, but computers nowadays are being built sturdier. I myself have seen (I am not admitting to anything by the way  ) a computer "bounce" off of asphalt and still work with out a single hitch. The other guys haven't found out about that one yet. lol
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/08/2008 14:12:43
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Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. White
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07/08/2008 21:49:58
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elemist
Super SysAider
Joined: 31/07/2008
Messages: 51
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Lol, I didn't see them drop anything. Though i think they would sell the dent on the case as a cosmetic feature if they did...! I wasn't too concerned about the desktop, more a problem with the 45k worth of cisco switches/routers that rocked up like that. But they all worked ok and have been working fine for over a year now.. so guess the equipment is pretty hardy! 
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29/09/2008 07:47:03
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Cataclysm13
SysAider
Joined: 25/09/2008
Messages: 7
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I work as an IT guy for a trucking company. In our office we have 75 computers and 2 server racks. Our exchange server is older than dirt but the CFO doesnt want to spend the money on a new server and newer version of exchange bc "It still works". Preventative maintenance for me is a pain.
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29/09/2008 21:28:23
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Obelix
SysAid Wiz
Joined: 12/06/2008
Messages: 887
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But you at least do backup right ?
Only pain about preventive maintenance is reminders and keeping tab on things. Which both could be automated with ...
*'side-tshirt-and-mug-whatelse-d'you-got kinda pause and glance @ Saar*
SysAid.
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That is not a bug, it's a feature...
When everything else fail try SysAid Wiki by Techguy |
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30/09/2008 06:44:20
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BJINS
SysAid Wiz
Joined: 08/08/2008
Messages: 583
Location: United Kingdom
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Some of the crawling/brown-nosing/down right lying and other general brilliance i have seen on this forum has left me wondering where I can learn it from!
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When the going gets tough, the tough get SysAid |
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30/09/2008 07:24:25
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Obelix
SysAid Wiz
Joined: 12/06/2008
Messages: 887
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I believe they mention something about certificate here somewhere...
Grab a smiley in a mechanic suit and shake it out from him...
*Orb out of saar's slapping range*
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That is not a bug, it's a feature...
When everything else fail try SysAid Wiki by Techguy |
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10/06/2009 16:25:48
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One of many
SysAider
Joined: 26/09/2008
Messages: 3
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We have moved all of our core servers to VMWare and have them running as virtual machines. The servers that are running VMWare all have 3 yr 24/7 onsite support contracts. The virtual machines are backed up nightly and then moved over to at least one of the other physical servers using Robocopy. If one of physical servers does have a hardware failure that requires downtime it takes us 15 minutes to associate the backed up virtual to the new server and we are back in operation.
As far as the workstations go we have 3 year warranty's on all. We keep them for a maximum of 4 years, knowing that we will lose some of the systems do to failures. The failed systems are replaced with new one and the usable parts from the dead systems are pulled. We ghost all system at least once a year to keep the installs fresh.
We run a WSUS server to ensure that MS patches are push out after they a tested.
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11/06/2009 04:55:58
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DK_Sysaider
Super SysAider
Joined: 07/05/2009
Messages: 79
Location: DK
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We are trying to change as early as possible after warranty and service are outdated. Because things like Normal DDR Ram, the selection drops every day and the price skyrockets. It's just getting extremely expensive in terms of replacing parts on a old system.
So instead of firefighting we try to just replace earlier, but in these times with crisis, its not always this wish copes with what the guys on the company money coffin thinks..... Also this give some extra problems with old software sometimes.
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"The Helpdesk is not active as the IT staff is on holiday, your service request will be addressed in about 4 weeks." |
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08/09/2009 09:35:32
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joeperryman.com
SysAider
Joined: 26/03/2009
Messages: 4
Location: Florida
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I try to encourage replacement cycle, but more often than not, I end up supporting outdated equipment. As long as the backups are current, it seems to work out.
Printers are the one asset that needs a scheduled maintenance plan. Especially if it's a mission critical printer.
just my 2 cents...
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26/12/2009 03:37:59
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NovaSam
SysAider
Joined: 20/12/2009
Messages: 27
Location: Richland, WA
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When you do the math, and one day find your self trying to load software that is not supported by the hardware, that is when it is easy enough to say its time to purchase a new computer.
I find that it is more time consuming to maintain an old computer then it is to just buy a new one these days. Especially when you have to pay a tech $20/hour to work on an old machine all day. A hard drive will usually last 3 years, sometimes less then one. Thats why a three year warenty is well worth the cost. After that it plain makes sense to deprieciate the machine over 3 years and be ready to buy a new one at the onset of the 4th or 5th year.
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