Hosting FMS on busy network server

[JHaughey]

Hello all.

 

    Obviously, it would be ideal to host FMS on a dedicated server as recommended. What if this is not possible for budgetary reasons? What are the dangers? What sort of issues can I expect to run into?

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

John

[Wim Decorte]

There's the obvious performance problems that can come from it, but those you can monitor and clearly document.

 

But more importantly: there is a seriously increased risk of config changes / settings / software & OS updates / <any other admin activity> that can adversely affect the health of the hosted FM files.

Think network shares that inadvertently expose the live files or the backups, OS / software updates that are needed for any of the other tasks and the admin reboots the machine without gracefully stopping FMS,...

These are not easy to quantify ahead of time, but the effects can be very dramatic.  To mitigate the risk:

- step up the monitoring (OS logs, FMS logs, eyes-on-server): weekly at first, then depending on the requirements

- proper shutdown / startup procedures, readily available, admins trained on them

- proper backup strategy (tested and verified!!) with procedures so that a non-FMS admin can follow step-by-step

- agreed-upon periodic review of all of the above.  6-months intervals at the max --> this is crucial because the server's tasks and load is likely going to vary

 

Obviously the client needs to be aware of this and agree to it.

In a lot of cases, after the first non-FMS related hiccup on the server it becomes clear that the perceived savings were not there.

[JHaughey]

Hello Wim! Thanks for your response! That's a great checklist which I will take up with the network admin and her backup.

[Richard Fincher]

How abOut running it in a VM?

[Wim Decorte]

That's not going to help if the host machine is being used in the way described.  A true VM environment has a dedicated host machine that does not do anything but host VMs.

No part of the risk is getting mitigated by using a VM for FM on a host machine that is doing other tasks.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

 

No part of the risk is getting mitigated by using a VM for FM on a host machine that is doing other tasks.

 

Please take special note of what Wim says here. This is a critical point.

 

Steven