Need some advice from network administrators.

[MiniDoom]

Well I need to document preventative maintenance procedures on our servers for my next review in June. Right now I really only check disk space and event log errors and wait for the stupid things to break so I can fix them. What other BS should I add in here to justify my existence? Thanks.

 

[MrChad]

LOL, uh, stay on top of security bulletins? Scheduled anti-virus runs? Regular Windows Updates?

 

[dphantom]

Patches, anti-virus updates, data backup, system state backup. DNS, DHCP, WINs or other services that are running are updating properly.

I manage 30+ servers and don't think any of this is BS to justify my job. Much like DNS/DHCP once setup, rarely need fixing, but DHCP database does corrupt rarely and DNS can return some strange errors. I prefer to be proactive and use tools like Remote Insight to warn me of potential hardware failure in advance. Dell has similar tools.

Why wait for something to break, now you have to deal with service interuption and unhappy customers. Be proactive so your customers are happy.

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: MrChad
LOL, uh, stay on top of security bulletins? Scheduled anti-virus runs? Regular Windows Updates?

Yes have an sus server and symantec server.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: MrChad
LOL, uh, stay on top of security bulletins? Scheduled anti-virus runs? Regular Windows Updates?

Yes have an sus server and symantec server.

Do you stay on top of TechNet and read up on the latest security bulletins? Do you have scheduled full system scans with Symantec?

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: dphantom
Patches, anti-virus updates, data backup, system state backup. DNS, DHCP, WINs or other services that are running are updating properly.

I manage 30+ servers and don't think any of this is BS to justify my job. Much like DNS/DHCP once setup, rarely need fixing, but DHCP database does corrupt rarely and DNS can return some strange errors. I prefer to be proactive and use tools like Remote Insight to warn me of potential hardware failure in advance. Dell has similar tools.

Why wait for something to break, now you have to deal with service interuption and unhappy customers. Be proactive so your customers are happy.

That?s the point of this I guess, I didn?t mean to come across like that I just get disgruntled every now and then. I will look into that software. Thanks

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: MrChad
LOL, uh, stay on top of security bulletins? Scheduled anti-virus runs? Regular Windows Updates?

Yes have an sus server and symantec server.

Do you stay on top of TechNet and read up on the latest security bulletins? Do you have scheduled full system scans with Symantec?

I'm ok with keeping up with the technet as I get their emails and we do full scans every week. thanks MrChad.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: dphantom
Patches, anti-virus updates, data backup, system state backup. DNS, DHCP, WINs or other services that are running are updating properly.

I manage 30+ servers and don't think any of this is BS to justify my job. Much like DNS/DHCP once setup, rarely need fixing, but DHCP database does corrupt rarely and DNS can return some strange errors. I prefer to be proactive and use tools like Remote Insight to warn me of potential hardware failure in advance. Dell has similar tools.

Why wait for something to break, now you have to deal with service interuption and unhappy customers. Be proactive so your customers are happy.

That?s the point of this I guess, I didn?t mean to come across like that I just get disgruntled every now and then. I will look into that software. Thanks

Cool. no problem. Enough stress in our system admin life.

Lots of tools out to help us and this is a great forum for advice. Sorry if I came across a bit harsh.

 

[Bozo]

You should also defrag and run chkdsk on a regular basis. You might be supprised how this can improve performance and head off problems.
Routine backups are a must too.
Virus defination updates and OS udates, patches and service packs should also be a matter of routine. Even if you have all this set to 'automatic', you should still make sure it got done.
General house cleanning should be done to. Emptying the recycle bin, deleting temp files and logs, Internet cache and history can all clog up a system in a hurry.

Bozo