Shutting Down Networks
Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
RE: Shutting Down Networks
I don't think it would be that big a deal, as long as backups are good and you shut down/bring back up in the needed order. The only thing I can think of is I would have all my FSMO roles in your NOC. Shook http://www.linkedin.com/in/andyshook -Original Message- From: John Hornbuckle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:24 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Shutting Down Networks Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
Re: Shutting Down Networks
I have not had that issue and have had my second DC offline for 3 days at a time BUT I don't do it on a regular basis. I put in a small room AC that is a stand-alone in room I got over at Lowe's to cool one of the server rooms. It works well even here in Florida. I would if at all possible set it to vent outside if you can otherwise the humidity will build up in the room or you will have a puddle on the floor every Monday. We are waiting on our budget but have been told to expect 15% off the top is now gone. This was in addition to the 10% that disappeared last year. Jon On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 8:24 AM, John Hornbuckle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
RE: Shutting Down Networks
We're okay there--the FSMO roles are on a server in the NOC now. John -Original Message- From: Andy Shook [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:32 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Shutting Down Networks I don't think it would be that big a deal, as long as backups are good and you shut down/bring back up in the needed order. The only thing I can think of is I would have all my FSMO roles in your NOC. Shook http://www.linkedin.com/in/andyshook -Original Message- From: John Hornbuckle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:24 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Shutting Down Networks Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
RE: Shutting Down Networks
I thought about the standalone A/C units, and maybe putting them in the server rooms. But some of the rooms are pretty large, and so would require a big unit. And depending on the cost of the units, the amount by which this could offset the savings that come from shutting off the A/C might make it not worthwhile. And I'd still need to shut off the switches in the IDFs. How do you go about calculating the savings from a move like this, anyhow? From: Jon Harris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:34 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Shutting Down Networks I have not had that issue and have had my second DC offline for 3 days at a time BUT I don't do it on a regular basis. I put in a small room AC that is a stand-alone in room I got over at Lowe's to cool one of the server rooms. It works well even here in Florida. I would if at all possible set it to vent outside if you can otherwise the humidity will build up in the room or you will have a puddle on the floor every Monday. We are waiting on our budget but have been told to expect 15% off the top is now gone. This was in addition to the 10% that disappeared last year. Jon On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 8:24 AM, John Hornbuckle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us http://www.taylor.k12.fl.us/ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
Re: Shutting Down Networks
Ours is a ~2 ton unit cooling a lot more than just the server, telephone, and network gear. There is a water heater, ice maker, and UPS's but it does a good job. Cost was about $500 and that even include part of the 3 year warranty extension. The room is about 20 by 20 feet with drop ceilings that are about 12 foot high. Jon On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 8:38 AM, John Hornbuckle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I thought about the standalone A/C units, and maybe putting them in the server rooms. But some of the rooms are pretty large, and so would require a big unit. And depending on the cost of the units, the amount by which this could offset the savings that come from shutting off the A/C might make it not worthwhile. And I'd still need to shut off the switches in the IDFs. How do you go about calculating the savings from a move like this, anyhow? *From:* Jon Harris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:34 AM *To:* NT System Admin Issues *Subject:* Re: Shutting Down Networks I have not had that issue and have had my second DC offline for 3 days at a time BUT I don't do it on a regular basis. I put in a small room AC that is a stand-alone in room I got over at Lowe's to cool one of the server rooms. It works well even here in Florida. I would if at all possible set it to vent outside if you can otherwise the humidity will build up in the room or you will have a puddle on the floor every Monday. We are waiting on our budget but have been told to expect 15% off the top is now gone. This was in addition to the 10% that disappeared last year. Jon On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 8:24 AM, John Hornbuckle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our district is in a situation where massive budget cuts are necessary. One of the things upper management wants to do is to put everyone on a 4-day work week for the two months that school is out for summer. They envision shutting everything off--including air conditioning--on Thursdays and leaving it off until Monday mornings. Each school has one server which is a jack-of-all trades--DC, file, DNS, DHCP. One site also has a second file/application server. Server rooms and IDFs aren't on separate cooling systems, so they would be affected by this. And also, this is Florida. Our NOC, which has its own A/C system, will remain cooled. My first reaction was that of course the servers would need to be shut down on Thursdays and staff off until Monday mornings. The more I thought about it, I came to feel like the switches in all of the IDFs will need to be shut down, too, due to heat and humidity. So that means all servers and all switches at all schools would be shutdown Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then brought back up on Monday mornings. I'm looking for input on the ramifications of this. Obviously, it will take some time for everything to come back up on Mondays. And while it shouldn't be so, the reality is that any time you shut down a piece of equipment there's a chance that it won't come back up or will come up with a problem. Is there anything else I need to consider? Like any problems that may come from DCs being offline for extended periods of time? John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District 318 North Clark Street Perry, FL 32347 www.taylor.k12.fl.us ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~ ~ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm ~
