We all know that we should change our car’s oil every three thousand miles but when dealing with computer systems, not everyone knows what sort of preventative maintenance should be done. With that in mind, here are a few items that everyone should consider when planning a general system maintenance schedule.
Every month clean the dust filters for all machines. It only takes a few moments to remove the plastic cover and remove the filter. If the workstation is in a control room with carpet you will find that they get dirty very fast. These filters keep dust out of the machine and keep the air circulating. While doing this, are there any funny noises emitting from the machine?
Clean out old files. Do you really need the playlists and import files from a month ago? If you think you might need them, copy them to another place or off to a disk. This also applies to ASPLAY files and any other type of logging file.
If Gateway/Dist is used, check the size of the C:\GATEWAY\CUTSAUX.DBF. If this file is getting large (say 10 megs or so), use the Gateway Setup option to Delete CutsAux on Exit. When Gateway exits it will remove the file. It will be recreated when Gateway starts back up. Gateway will then start scanning everything and copy any files that need to be transferred. If anything was missed, it will now be backed up.
Speaking of Gateway, check your backups. You DO HAVE some sort of a backup plan right? If nothing else, run the DCL: BACKUP FILES
This uses the DAD.INI file in the \DAD\FILES directory. While we are here, have you thought about backing up the Gateway rules? Copy all the *.DBF’s in the \GATEWAY directory to a disk for safe keeping.
There are other items that also need to be checked regularly but not on a monthly basis. I would suggest going over these on a quarterly basis:
Check
all the machines for any sort of funny noises.
You can generally do this when you are cleaning the dust filters.
I know that most machines are running 24/7 but a peak inside would be
nice. When WAS the last time you opened the top to see if all the fans were
spinning?
If
you have a Novell NetWare server, does it need purging? NetWare can be set
to keep a copy of every file, every deleted file and copies of files that
have been changed. Doing a purge
will remove these files. Checking the NetWare Volume Statistics from the
Drive Properties tab from a workstation will tell you the percentage of
Purgeable Space. To do a purge,
open a DOS prompt on a workstation and change to the network drive mapping.
Enter: PURGE /ALL
Check
the log files for errors. A NetWare server error log can be found in the
F:\SYSTEM directory and is called
SYS$LOG.err. Users should check
Global Array Manager (GAM) for any error messages.
One should also check the Event logs on Windows 2000 or NT
workstations. You may
find messages in these logs indicating
errors or problems you were unaware of. Keeping the event logs clear will
prevent the logs themselves from becoming too large.
You
should also verify that all drives are on-line. On a Novell server, from the
System Console prompt enter: Mirror Status. All drives should be In Sync. On
a Windows 2000 server check GAM. All drives should be active. If you have an
X on a disk, then it is off-line.
Finally
in general, how are the machines doing? Is that Strata or Cool Edit machine
running low on disk space yet? Does the machine need more RAM?
I
would also suggest making notes of what is ‘normal’ for the machines.
This way, if you see a machine that has it’s CPU utilization running at
60% all the time you will know whether this represents
a departure from the norm. Knowing the ‘proper’ or ‘average’
readings for a machine can help you determine if you are having a problem.
Please
remember that these are guidelines and you might need to check these more often.
You should also consider keeping some sort of a logbook or clipboard that
is easy to find. I used to keep a
clipboard in my server room. It had a network map with all the machine names, IP
Address and connection port numbers for easy quick reference. I also kept a
record of what sort of maintenance was done. If a hard disk was replaced I
logged the date, type of drive and reason for failure.
The same was done for software upgrades. I kept notes on when it was
updated and from what version. Even notes about backup dates or incident reports
from users are handy.
Everyone
keep records of when they changed tubes, tower lights and transmitter readings.
It only makes sense to keep records of the network system. You digital
audio system is just as important as your transmission equipment.
Preventive
maintenance is not always at the top of
everyone’s to-do list. It’s not uncommon
for folks to only think of these things when something happens. With a bit of
general planning, downtime can be limited to short periods if not totally
eliminated.