After having a number of sites incorrectly shutting down their server during the day we would like to warn sites against shutting down their server without speaking to ACR first. Having your
server shut down unexpectedly/incorrectly can cost you more than just the time it takes to reboot your server, there could be time spent fixing corrupted data as well as potentially replacing damaged hardware.
There are three ways a server can be shut down:
- Have all users log out of ACR and have a member of your staff shut the server down with ACR’s assistance. This is the correct way to shut down your server.
- Press the power button and have the ACR server turn off without completing any processes that your staff members were working on. This is the incorrect way to shut down a server.
- Unplug the Power lead from the wall and turn the ACR server off without completing any processes that your staff members were working on. This is the incorrect way to shut down a server.
The first way is the correct and safe way to shut your server down. This ensures that all users have had a chance to complete and save their work as well as the server can finalise what it is processing before shutting down safely.
The second and third options are the incorrect ways to shut down your sever. Using either method could result in a data corruption in your database from either a user who was part way through completing a process or the server not completing a process it was working on. If your server does shut down in either of these ways you must ALWAYS contact ACR straight away so they can conduct a corruption check on your data, this can take up to a couple of hours to run. Failure to have this process run could result in your system having corrupt data, which could result in days of down time to rectify once discovered.
Ways to avoid having your server shut down unexpectedly:
- Clearly label your server with a sign to indicate that it is not to be turned off without contact ACR first. Include ACR’s support phone number on this label.
- Label the power leads for the server where they plug into the UPS/wall to avoid somebody accidently unplugging them or switching them off and in turn accidently turning your server off.
- Keep any front covers/doors closed on your server (unless directly told by ACR not to) to stop people accidently pressing the power button and turning your server off.
- If your server does not have a cover over the power button, clearly mark this button as “do not press” to stop people mistakenly pressing it.