RE: Offsite servers

["Mark Stoffan" <mstoffan at wncln dot lib dot unca dot edu>]

We are a three-campus consortia sharing a single Innopac server. The
server is located in the IT department computer room on one campus. I'm
based on another campus about 80 miles away. We haven't had many issues
but we do have a good relationship with the IT folks who generously take
care of such things as firewall configuration, backups, etc. Make sure
they understand the idiosyncrasies beforehand, such as the backup
mechanism, and agree to work with it. If you are a turnkey site, make
sure the IT folks understand that the server choices may be limited when
it comes to make/model and capabilities such as rack mounting. If they
have a nice rack-mounted row of Dells they may not like the big Alpha
sitting on the floor of the computer room.

I would recommend above all else that you have access to the computer
room when needed. I travel to the host campus and do upgrades from the
local console. We did an upgrade remotely on a prior occasion and ran
into difficulty when the telnet module did not restart following the
reboot. The IT folks were most helpful on that occasion and Innovative
had things back in short order, but if this type of thing occurs I
prefer to be where the action is. For routine things like resetting the
modem, the IT people are very good about doing this when asked. 

I've found that very little troubleshooting is done with the hardware
itself, and we get as good a picture logging in remotely as we do
sitting next to the machine. Innovative has never complained about our
setup and they routinely dial in remotely or telnet to the system while
I'm on the phone with them from Asheville.

Bottom line: you shouldn't have many issues as long as you have physical
access to the server and can develop and maintain a positive
relationship with the IT folks.

Mark

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark A. Stoffan
Network Librarian, Western North Carolina Library Network
1 University Heights, CPO 1500
Asheville, NC  28804                 (828) 232-5095 (office)
mstoffan at wncln dot lib dot unca dot edu    (828) 231-6285 (cell)
barker.lib.unca.edu                   (828) 232-5137 (fax)
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Donna dot McCurley at courts dot state dot md dot us
[mailto:Donna dot McCurley at courts dot state dot md dot us] 
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 5:06 PM
To: innopac at innopacusers dot org
Subject: Offsite servers

We are scheduled to receive a new server in the near future, and the IT 
Department is starting to make noises about moving our server offsite, 
away from the Library, to a building  across town (roughly 2 miles
away). 
Naturally, we're rather antsy about the process, and want to do our 
homework, before making a final decision on the matter.

We're especially interested in hearing from special libraries and other 
government libraries, who are working with their servers in offsite 
locations, away from their library. 

Have you experienced any problems?  What issues did you face in the 
transition?  Do you have access to your server when needed?  Any
problems 
with upgrades, backups, troubleshooting Millenium?  Is the Innovative 
Helpdesk easily able to access your server, and fix problems as needed? 
What method of access to the server do you have set up for Innovative to

use when troubleshooting?

Our new server will run on a Unix platform, and we'll be using the 
Millenium Silver version of the Cataloging, Serials and Acquisitions 
modules.

I'm new to Innovative products, having just left a Sirsi site.  Forgive
me 
if these questions were recently asked by another site. 

Thank you for any assistance!

Donna

========================================
Donna S. McCurley
Systems / Research Librarian
Maryland State Law Library
Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Bldg.
361 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, MD  21401-1697

Email: Donna dot McCurley at courts dot state dot md dot us
Telephone: 410-260-1435
Fax: 410-974-2063
=========================================

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---