Ghost Servers
Around the world, every culture has some kind of belief in spirits who live on after death, and everyone has heard a ghost story or two. Of course, not everyone believes they exist, though many swear that they’ve seen them personally. In the world of computer technology, ghosts definitely exist. The good news is that these are ghost servers, not the spirits of the people who used them. The bad news is that they can be expensive and a security problem.
Businesses are increasingly moving their servers to the cloud, and taking advantage of the cost savings and convenience that cloud computing offers. When they migrate, they may leave behind the carcases of the old servers: the ghost servers. These are often allowed to keep running in the background. It may seem like a good idea but under-utilized servers can cost you big, in several ways.
Here’s one IT horror story to illustrate the point. Back in 2006, someone hacked into the Ohio University database that stored the personal details of hundreds of thousands of alumni, including nearly 140,000 Social Security numbers. The security lapse happened because nobody knew the server was still running, so no security updates were applied to it. How the university IT staff didn’t know the server was still active is another story…
Finding ghosts
To exorcise the ghosts from your network you have to find them. It’s a good idea for any company to have regular tech audits of all hardware and software, so you know what you’ve got, where it is and who is using it and when. Taking a tech inventory can seem like a time-consuming exercise but it’s absolutely worth it. If you’re not sure what’s where and what’s doing what, we can provide you with a network assessment that will generate a map of your entire network.
There are all sorts of reasons why companies lose track of the details about their network. Sometimes there aren’t the funds for in-house IT staff or they don’t have the resources to keep on top of everything. This is a problem that can be solved by outsourcing. The outsourced IT services provided by Quikteks can reduce your IT expenses. This will allow you to direct those financial resources to other, money-generating areas of your operations, such as marketing and sales.
Neutralizing the ghosts
If you have ghost servers then you must be sure that they are not accessible to unauthorized persons. If you are going to implement any measures, consider virtualizing the server, which will be cost-effective and time-saving. Quikteks can help with this, and host your data. When we do this we oversee the system for you, so you won’t be troubled by any more hauntings.
You might decide that, with outsourced hosting and management, that your server is redundant. The ghost must go. It’s time to cut off its power supply, wipe any data from the drives and to hold a the funeral, after which it will not return to spook you. When it’s unplugged and wiped clean, it can rest in peace, without disturbing the living.
Do you need help to lay your ghost servers to rest? Quikteks can be there to lower the coffin into its grave. With your data hosted by us, and monitoring of your system outsourced to be managed by our IT experts, you can be confident that there are no spectres still lurking unseen. Who ya gonna call? Quikteks are your IT ghostbusters. Call us on (973) 882-4644 today.