Chapter 15 Server Maintenance Server maintenance is an important part of the server administrator's job. Maintenance includes both hardware and software tasks. In this chapter, you will learn about the maintenance responsibilities of a server administrator. These responsibilities include: Maintaining the Hardware Planning for Server Downtime Understanding Windows Update Automating with Logs and Alerts Planning for Continuity Maintaining the hardware The first thing you must consider when maintaining a server is the hardware itself. Different hardware components demand different maintenance tasks. Additionally, you must ensure that the environment accommodates the hardware you are using. The following hardware items should be considered: Memory Like all hardware components, you should ensure that the memory chips in the server remain dust free. When dust builds up on the memory chips, they become hot and may even be damaged. For this reason, you should use compressed air to blow out the server cases periodically. In clean environ- ments, this may only be required annually. In manufacturing environments, it may be required much more frequently. An additional memory maintenance task is more of a proactive task and that is to have extra memory on hand in case a memory chip fails. Disk The hard drives should be maintained in at least two ways. The first is to periodically defragment the hard drives. This will ensure that the drives per- form optimally. The second task, which is not performed in all organizations, is to plan for the replacement of drives. Hard drives have ratings called Mean