Protecting Your Server During Natural Disasters

One thing every business has in common is that each is vulnerable to natural disasters. Regardless of your organization's geographical location, some risk exists. Something as seemingly minor as a rain storm can cause wind damage or minor flooding that can have a destructive effect on your company's ability to do business. One of the greatest threats to an organization in a natural disaster is data loss. Many businesses today both store the majority of their business data electronically on servers as well as rely on IT infrastructure to perform core parts of their business function. An organization cannot, therefore, afford to lose access to these essential components. With careful planning, however, a company can mitigate damage to their servers and/or recover swiftly in the event damage does occur.

One of the best steps a company can take in protecting their servers and server components is to keep them in a secure, isolated area. Server rooms will not only protect your equipment from every day damage or unauthorized access, it can better protect your data during a natural disaster. Server rooms allow climate to be better controlled, providing necessary cooling to prevent overheating or slowdown. But they also can be fitted with sensors that will alert if there is a dangerous change in temperature, such as might occur if a storm or short cause a fire to break out. These rooms can also help limit damage to your servers should fire break out in some other part of the building. Additionally, though often too costly to similarly protect an entire building, a server room can be fitted with power surge protectors, back-up generators or batteries to prevent harmful damage during electrical problems such as power loss or lightening strikes.

Also, avoid building your server room below street level – basements are far too prone to flooding. Do not locate your servers near walls with water pipes, especially if your area is at risk of freezing temperatures or earth movement. Choose a room without a window to avoid water or impact damage if the window is broken. FEMA suggests businesses install electrical components and wiring one foot above the 100-year flood plain. If this is not possible, an organization can secure their servers on racks at this level to at least avoid component water damage. Similarly secure your servers to stands or racks that are well secured to avoid damage from falling or movement.

Another sad aspect of natural disasters is the people who take advantage of unprotected businesses during this time. Your server room should always, therefore, be kept behind locked doors to protect against theft. This step, however, is a good rule of thumb for every work day.

The best plans to preventing damage to hardware and data are not fool proof. Even without a natural disaster, a company is always at risk for lost or corrupted data for a variety of reasons. Therefore, all organizations should create a backup plan for their data and systems. Always utilize an off-site backup system, preferably one some distance away from your location that would not be subject to the same problems as your company during a natural disaster. You can even utilize a secure storage company that will immediately deliver or allow remote access to a new server system that is a mirror image of the one that has been damaged, making it possible for your organization to rapidly begin regular business functions again.