[robertin75]

Hello:

I work for a small company and they contracted an external company which will be selling us and installing an HP Server with Windows Small Business Server 2011.

We will also have a VPN router and a 48 ports switc among other things.

Anyone has any recommendations as what to test to make sure that everything is working properly and also make sure that in case of some unexpected events everything can be recovered/return to normal?

Some of the issues that I have been thinking are:

- Loss of power and graceful shut down/start up via the UPS.

- Unexpected loss of power and proper recovery. What if someone inadvertently unplugs the server?

- Confirmation that backup is working and that data can be recovered.

- Confirmation that the 48-port router is configured properly via review of the configuration. I would expect equal priorities for all user ports for starters.

- Confirmation that all printers are working properly, and that drivers are easily loaded through the server for new PCs.

- Confirmation that VPN is working.

- Confirmation that we are receiving alerts.

Thanks and help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Wand3r3r]

Loss of power and graceful shut down/start up via the UPS.
Good plan

- Unexpected loss of power and proper recovery. What if someone inadvertently unplugs the server?
No one should have access to the server physcially. Between the UPS and backup you are covered

- Confirmation that backup is working and that data can be recovered.
You install an external drive and do daily test restores of selected folders. You review the backup logs and confirm the data sizes. This is the only way you know you have good backups. Also consider tape rotation schemes that put a set off site [not in the trunk of a car or other unsecure location]. You also come up wth a disaster recovery plan and document how you are going to achive this. For example if you lose the hard drive [should be mirrored] are you prepared to do a new install and restore from backup

- Confirmation that the 48-port router is configured properly via review of the configuration. I would expect equal priorities for all user ports for starters.
You have a 48 port switch [not a router] and since you don't mention its a managed switch it doesn't have the ability to be configured for anything

- Confirmation that all printers are working properly, and that drivers are easily loaded through the server for new PCs.

- Confirmation that VPN is working.

- Confirmation that we are receiving alerts.

These last three items are configurations. If they work you know you have them correct. Do note there are two types of vpn routers. Ones with vpn clients and ones that do vpn passthrough. You need to confirm which you have. I prefer the ones with clients so they authenciate to the router and then again to the server to get access to the server/network. A passthrough will require you to configure the server as a vpn server. This usually requires two nics and the engagement of RRAS

Your contractor should have all of these aspects handled.