Protecting and maintaining your physical hardware

Tips for protecting your physical hardware

• All computers should be kept reasonably dust free, especially over the intakes for the cooling fans.
• Be familiar with the operating temperature limits of your servers, as overheating is one of the major causes of server failure.
• Server room temperatures should be regularly monitored, and dedicated air conditioning installed if required. You should consider installing a thermometer in the server room.
• Take extra precautions over the summer months – run air-conditioning overnight on hot days or install ceiling suction fans.
• Always follow vendor guidelines, and seek professional advice from your technical service provider.
• Ensure your technical service provider assesses the ‘computer heartbeat’. This is a signal occurring at regular intervals to indicate a computer is working correctly, or synchronised with other parts of the system. If the heartbeat is not available, an error may have occurred. ​

Create a policy: Hardware maintenance

Your practice policy and procedures should include hardware and physical maintenance.

Your policy should confirm the requirement for:

• all system maintenance performed by your practice team or technical service provider to be documented
• regular hardware maintenance to be undertaken. This may include:
  • checking battery life on the UPS
  • preventive maintenance
  • planned upgrades
  • monitoring server room temperatures regularly​

Create a policy: Physical protection

Your practice policy and procedures should include physical network and hardware protection.

Your policy should cover:

• how all removable computer equipment is secured from theft or damage
• the physical location of your server to ensure it is secured with limited and controlled access
• how the server is identified so practice team members know which computer is the server
• how software disks and backup media are physically protected
• how computer monitors are positioned in open-access areas to prevent unintentional viewing of information
• appropriate use of screensavers
•  your clear screen policy
• your clear desk policy
• appropriate paper document management
• the secure disposal of hardware
• how to delete all data on devices
• How and when to perform a routine clean around the back of computers and other equipment
• Controlling environmental conditions (e.g. extreme heat)