Today’s Topics: Homes, Appraisals & Minimalism | Open Frame Wall Racks: For the times when space is at a premium | Tips for Maintaining Your Server | News to Start Your Day
Happy Wednesday!
Happy National Carrot Cake Day! They say you should have 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Carrot cake has about three cups of carrots in it! A good way to get your veggies in??…I think so! Check out this delicious recipe here!
Good morning! Well, we are halfway through the week, but to be honest, yesterday felt like it should have been Friday. It has been a long week already.
I have mentioned a couple of times before when I had the opportunity to write to y’all about selling my house and building a new one. I wanted to give you a quick update on where things are with it and what’s been going on.
So, the last time we spoke the home inspection was about to take place. Well, that went SUPER smooth and there were no surprises or any crazy things. The buyer did ask for a few smaller things and we settled on a dollar amount for those items and we were good to go. Whew! Praise God! Since then I have been packing like a madman! So, I am trying to adopt this mentality of “minimalism” and clean out a lot of the “things” that I haven’t used, needed, or even seen in a year. A buddy of mine (Mike, in the video above) introduced me to the concept a while back and I have watched his family thrive since they started on the adventure. Sometimes less is more. I think it will feel good going into my new house with a clean slate and less “junk.”
So today, around Noon, the final step before closing will take place. I have my home appraisal. Would appreciate your prayers for this to go smoothly and the appraisal to come back great. (And the appraiser to wake up on the right side of the bed and have a good morning before they get here…haha!) You know from past updates, I struggle with anxiety, so as you can imagine, it has been very heightened this week. I keep trying to remind myself that God is in control and He has brought me this far in the process without any issues so He will see me through the appraisal and closing as well. I have done my part so I need to let Him do His part. I am sure I will take a very deep breath after the appraiser steps out my door today. Haha! Then of course the waiting game to find out the amount begins.
I will let you know how everything goes later this week or next week when I get to write to y’all again. I appreciate the prayers!
Have a great Wednesday and a great rest of your week.
Jason
Product Spotlights & Updates:
For Today’s product spotlight, we wanted to showcase some excellent wall mount racks from our partners, Kendall Howard. We specifically wanted to highlight the Kendall Howard Open Frame Wall Racks.
Whether it’s A/V equipment, networking gear, or other IT accessories, the Kendall Howard Open Frame Wall Rack is a solid solution for your mounting needs. The open-frame design is perfect for airflow and easy access and is a great solution where space is at a premium. You can mount this rack easily in a small closet or inconspicuously on the wall in a room. The unit comes in two sizes: a smaller 8RU version and a larger 15RU version and each can handle up to 130 lbs in weight. The 18” depth is perfect for most equipment and the 19” width meets the standard for ITequipment. These units (like all Kendall Howard units) are made in the USA and come backed by a lifetime warranty.
Now if you’re going to buy a rack, you’re going to need some racking accessories to get things in order. Here’s what pairs well with the Open Frame Rack:
- Got gaps in the front of your rack that you want to hide? Don’t worry these spacer blanks will get the job done.
- Every rack needs some sort of cable manager… if you don’t have one it’s like wearing shoes without any socks… your rack will end up smelling.
- Speaking of shoes, maybe lacing is more up your alley? We also recommend these awesome lacing shelves to handle those unruly cables.
- Hinged brackets are in… trust us, it’s going to be a thing in 2021. For easy access to your patch panels try this hinged patch panel bracket.
- Velcro is always a solid option when managing cables. Try these pre-cut Velcro straps.
- If Velcro is not your thing, we also have the old standby of nylon cable ties.
- And last but not least, why not have some extra rack screws on hand for those times when they get dropped and roll behind that desk or server rack?
Let us know if we’ve missed anything from this list? Do you like open frame racks or do you prefer enclosures? We’d love to hear your opinion!
Did you know we’re a Premier Partner of Kendall Howard? Read more about our partnership and other Kendall Howard products here.
Tips for Maintaining Your Server – CK Learning Center
Servers are powerful in every sense of the word, in fact, they can hum for 24 hours a day, seven days a week without having any issues. However, their efficiency can be reduced drastically or even cut short completely if they are deprived of proper maintenance. You can avert server failure or a major disaster by simply having a regular check-up on them. Hiring a server management solution is the easiest and worry-free way to go. However, if you choose to do it yourself, here are a few maintenance tips to follow:
Ensure the backups are in good working order
One of the best things you can do is to maintain server backups. There are several options for backing up your server. You can utilize a local backup (internal or external hard drives, magnetic tape drives, etc) or you can utilize a remote backup (offsite). There are pros and cons to each, however, maintaining an offsite backup is oftentimes a higher security option because being in a separate location is protected against natural disasters. Prior to making any changes, ensure that the backups are working. Check to see that the backup location is right. Run some test recoveries just to be double sure.
Check how the disk is used
When you start to use up too much space on your disks, it can quickly begin to affect performance and can even prevent critical backups from running. It is important to monitor disk usage and to take proactive steps to help free up disk space. Space-saving ideas include deleting old mails, logs, and unused software versions. If you have more than 90% disk usage, get additional storage or reduce usage. A 100% server usage will cause it to stop responding, cause corruption of data tables and result in lost data.
Regular Update of OS
Linux systems often release updates and staying on track with them can be a challenge. It is, therefore, critical to use patch management tools as well as have monitoring that alerts you of a system update. You may miss vital security updates if you choose to do manual or no updates at all. If automatic updates are not possible, then it would be best for you to create scheduled updates. Failing to update regularly could leave you exposed to hackers, malware, and potential loss of important data.
Clean your server regularly
Some people make the mistake of thinking that simply because their servers are in a closed cabinet they don’t get dirty. Nevertheless, even servers in proper environments can inhale dust and dirt. This may adversely affect their performance and reliability after some time.
Today’s powerful CPUs and GPUs require properly functioning fans to enhance air circulation. When the fans get exposed to dust and dirt for long, they may fail to function as expected. However, you should be careful when cleaning the fans not to cause any damage.
Check For Errors in the Hardware
Review the logs for detection hardware problems. Network failures, disk read errors, and overheating notices may be early signs of possible hardware failure. Look into these and more so, if the system has had a history of not working within the expected range.
Change Password
It may seem like a small thing, but it is critical that you change your password at least twice a year, especially if passwords have been given out previously for maintenance purposes. Remember that passwords should be long and complex and should contain a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters if possible.
Test UPS Batteries
UPS’s have experienced tremendous improvements recently. However, that does not mean that they don’t lose capacity with time. Test your UPS’s at least annually to establish how long they will sustain a server. This may help you to identify the best time to replace them, especially when you find that their runtime has reduced drastically.
Check Security of the Systems
Use remote editing tools to review the security, auditing the server security, check on the OS updates, configuration of the system, and other possible risks. This should ideally be done monthly, however, if that is not possible it should at least be done quarterly.
Update Control Panel
If you are using a server or hosting control panel, it needs to be updated. This may also require the software controlled by the panel to be updated as well
RAID Alarms Monitoring
RAID should be used in all production servers and hence, the RAID status should be monitored. A single disk failure can end up in a total system failure. This can cause the need for a simple drive replacement to result in a disaster recovery scenario that takes several hours to restore.
Server Utilization Check-Ups
Check the utilization of the network, RAM, CPU, and disk. If you are about to reach the limits, consider getting additional resources or even migrating to another server.
This article is from the CK Learning Center.
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, in the US, there are 9,818,915 active COVID cases, 16,750,647 have recovered and there have been 457,868 deaths.
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will leave his post later this year, turning the helm over to the company’s top cloud executive, Andy Jassy. Bezos said he will stay engaged in important Amazon projects but will also have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post, and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
- The latest prototype of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket launched successfully on Tuesday but exploded on impact during an attempted landing. Starship prototype Serial Number 9, or SN9, aimed to fly as high as 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet altitude. While the rocket flew successfully, it hit the ground explosively on its return, just as the SN8 flight did in December.
- Robinhood, which has found itself in the center of an uproar after restricting trading on equities last week, will run its first Super Bowl ad. The ad will kick off what the company says is its largest-ever brand campaign. The stock trading app has faced a public relations crisis as angry customers hit back at restrictions on the trading of some high volatility stocks.
- The U.S. will increase its weekly supply of Covid-19 vaccines to states by 5%, providing at least 10.5 million doses for the next three weeks. That bump comes a week after the White House said it would increase supply to states by 16% over the next three weeks. The federal government will also turn on its first phase of a federal partnership to send doses directly to retail chains beginning February 11th.
- Amazon has begun testing electric delivery vans from Rivian on routes in L.A. Amazon agreed to buy 100,000 Rivian electric vehicles as part of its pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Rivian has raised about $8 billion since 2019 from investors including Amazon via its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund.