Its a worse than the plummet your gut experiences when you’ve just
been told your servers have crashed. Thankfully all isn’t lost.
Essential data can be restored through a number of means. Make use of a
bootable USB flash drive, install from the Windows Installation media or
restore from a previous back up. If all else fails, you can run a full
system restore to its factory settings.
Restoring from a backup
If
your system has been infected by an unavoidable virus and you’ve been
backing up effectively, you’ll only need to go back to a version from
before the infection. As long as the backup has all the essential data,
your recovery from the windows server crash should be swift and rather
painless.
Chances
are the most recently backed up and clean version will be slightly
different to when the server crashed. You’ll need to look into
configuring settings to bring the server up to date. Restoring any lost
data to cover the period between the backed up version and the crash may
also be needed.
Depending
on whether or not you replaced the hard drive following a system crash,
you may have to manually restore the data. With a single hard drive, if
the partition is left intact when the server is restored, essential
data held on the volume will be preserved. Multiple hard drives on the
server with any one being replaced may force you to manually replace any
data to shared folders.
Factory Reset to default settings
If previous server versions aren’t looking too appealing, you may prefer to perform a complete system overhaul.
This is pretty much like unwrapping the system for the first time. A
freshly factory reset server will need re-installation from recovery
media. Any preferred settings will need to be configured, and once this
has been done your server will restart.
When
the system restarts, you’ll be asked if you want to keep any stored
data or discard it. Keep in mind that, if the disk settings don’t match
the default settings, you’ll automatically lose the data. Once it’s
restarted you’ll be taken through the configure server wizard where
you’ll be prompted to restore using either the Windows Server Essentials installation DVD or a client computer using the recovery DVD.
Making use of client computers
Coupling the recovery media and a client computer you can run the recovery wizard. Following the instructions will create a bootable USB flash drive that
will kick start the server into recovery mode. The USB drive will be
prepared, the server located and a connection established.
The
next steps in your recovery from a Windows server crash will be to
restore files and folders. How you chose to restore the server will
determine how you restore your files and folders. If you replaced the
disk, or it’s not readable you’ll need to run the Restore Files and
Folders Wizard to find your data. It can not only restore single files
but the contents of entire folders.
Shared
folders on the server will still exist on the data partition, but will
need to be re-shared following the restoration. There’s a chance they
will not be recognized by the server however, in which case you may need
to reconfigure them making them readable.
Create comprehensive back up instructions
Now
that you’ve got your server back up and running and you’ve located and
restored files, it’s vital you customize comprehensive backup
instructions for the system. Include all files and folders you want
backed up, including any shared ones. An external USB drive will suffice
for backing up the essential data held on the server.
All
computers on the network will benefit from being backed up onto the
Windows server, making any future restorations easier. Using Windows Azure will back up any files and folders on the server at regular intervals securely.
Too
many businesses have been caught not backing up often enough, or
backing up to just one location. If your company deals with customer
details such as credit card information, not providing adequate
protection on the server or the back-up locations can result in a fine.
This means that it’s important to be aware that IT disasters can and do
happen and it pays to be prepared.
Utilize the Cloud and Server/File Monitoring
Server monitoring solutions
can help to avoid disasters with Windows Server crashes, as these alert
you to problems before they occur, giving the business time to act
before any data is lost. There are also so many enterprise back-up
solutions available these days that there’s just no excuse not to have
up-to-date back-ups available if the worst does happen.
The use of cloud storage is reported to be increasing in 2014
, as more companies embrace the cloud and realize that its security is
often better than their own. Very few SMEs have adequate security and
disaster recovery systems in place, due for the most part to time and
costs. However, these days, cloud technology has made IT much more
accessible for the smaller business, so storage and back-up solutions
are affordable for all sizes.
Businesses
that fail to cover their bases when it comes to protecting and backing
up data put their entire company at risk. Data is a valuable commodity
in the modern working world, and as such, it’s up to business owners to
ensure that theirs, and that of their customers, is safe. A server crash
needn’t be the end of the world if proper procedures have been put in
place in the first instance.
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