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Ask Slashdot: How To Evacuate a Network
First time accepted submitter gpowers writes "I am the IT Manager for Shambhala Mountain Center, near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. We are in the pre-evacuation area for the High Park Fire. What is the best way to load 50+ workstations, 6 servers, IP phones, networking gear, printers and wireless equipment into a 17-foot U-Haul? We have limited packing supplies. We also need to spend as much time as possible working with the fire crew on fire risk mitigation."
Less posting to Slashdot would be step 1...
Pack what's critical first. Servers. Critical networking gear. Workstations. Ignore the phones, printers and wireless gear unless you've got extra time. And good luck.
"But we decide which is right, and which is an illusion"
Off Site Disaster Recovery and Fire Insurance?
The "best" way to evacuate a data center is to already have off-site back-up for your data in place, drop a fresh copy to portable media, and walk out. The hardware should be insured. The life of your and your people (at least some of whom should probably be helping their families evacuate) are far more valuable than a few months of making your insurer pay for rented hardware until your new machines show up.
First, triage the equipment.
You likely do not have time to pull disks from systems, so pack computers and
external drives first. Get blankets to protect things. Blankets start at the bottom
to act like a shock absorber.
Things like networking gear and wireless stuff is irrelevant compared to the
computers, and probably lighter. If you CAN, sure, save all that stuff too.
But the data comes first. Don't forget backups.
If there are computers with really really important or sensitive stuff, put
those in someones car in the backseat, again with blankets. If I seem
blanket obsessed, it's because I've found them to be available quickly
either from individuals or stores. Yes, bubble wrap or sorbathane would
be better but you aren't likely to have that stuff lying around.
Offsite backup at the very least. Save your data and your people, and let the insurance company take care of the hardware. Loss of productivity is a problem, but you're going to have that anyway.
1. label all hard drives. Drive position, and server.
2. place hard drives in anti-static bags
3. pack drives in foam.
4. get drives far, far away.
Hard drives are both the most valuable, and the most fragile part. Do not load them in a stiff suspension vehicle like a truck, as this bounces the drives. Choose a soft-suspension normal car.
Next take servers and network gear. Desktops are a maybe, as are phones. Ignore printers.
Tape a piece of cardboard over the face of an LCD monitor to protect it from casual bumps.
Above all, no data is worth a human life. No heroics. You're not paid for heroics.
Wow, way to plan for disaster. You should already have had the systems transfered either to a clowd or to your remote site. If you do not you've failed.
So what this gentleman says is correct. If you've not labeled everything including cables and have detailed drawings of the installations wiring you've failed.
So what you do is get out your label maker and tools, shut it all down and label everything. Then pack it as best you can in the truck. You can expect 30-40 percent startup failure when you get them installed and attempt a startup.
You might just want to consider building your next IT center in a shipping container that can be detached and loaded on to a semi. Done properly your UPS and AC systems would keep them alive until you could get to an alternate location with power and network which you should already have contracted for in advance.
Personally I wouldn't take anything unless it is 100% un-replaceable (discontinued systems and since-last-offisite-transfer backups). Remember, your insurance will (if the person that negotiated it wasn't a complete moron) cover ALL hardware that is caught in the fire, they might NOT cover hardware that you broke in the U-Haul truck while trying to save it. You should already have offsite backups, so at the most you should save the "didn't make it to offsite yet" recent backups (1 day to 1 week's worth depending on your setup). For everything else: let it burn, that's what you pay those high insurance premiums for! If your insurance company doesn't like that plan, THEY can move it out of the f*$ing building.
You might just want to consider building your next IT center in a shipping container that can be detached and loaded on to a semi. Done properly your UPS and AC systems would keep them alive until you could get to an alternate location with power and network which you should already have contracted for in advance.
Nods, and seconded... motion to carry.
This strange comment at the bottom of the message is illogical.
dont unbolt the parts it's time wasted and it will make transporting the lot easily while in rack with a buggy .. .if the cat 5's are landed at punchhed patch panels
just unwire the rack and take it out as a whole
you may be able to remove the cabling in large chunks without causing too much damage if any.
computers ? same as above. just take the stations and put them in large bins..If you got an apple producer
of similar large produce cases you may be able to fit all computers in one box which again is handy because
it keeps things together and the screens in the second box . Dont waste time on kb's mice etc unless you have a
lot of time on your hands..
get the heck out and keep people safe is first
hardware comes last.
it's useless to dead people
ric.
http://eddie.niese.net/images/Wiring_BAD.jpg
You're not even supposed to grab your coat when a building is evacuated. Much less hardware.
That's exactly correct. I've known people that literally got out naked (having been asleep), but they got out of a fire alive. If you know the fire is a risk and you can't replace the hardware for lack of insurance then the move should already be happening now...
"We moved all the stuff for no reason" beats "We lost everything because we waited" every time in the Thoughts of Tomorrow game.
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Save your data and your people
but not in that order.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Mod parent and grandparent down, please, and tell both posters what doofuses they are. In hurricane country, do you think people are stupid for taking time to board up windows before leaving too? No. Spending time saving property when a natural disaster or like phenomenon is known to be on the way but remains hours or possibly days away from impacting you is, in fact, a DESIRABLE thing to do. Less property is destroyed. Less time and effort is spent replacing the property. Less time is spent filing insurance paperwork.
Perhaps you're in California and have earthquakes on the brain. It's quite different. This is not "get out or we're all going to die" situation. This is a "be ready to leave town if we tell you to" situation. Sure, if the guys in charge of evacuation tell you "leave IMMEDIATELY omgfire" then you do, and save the people, and throw away the property. But it doesn't always come to that.