CSI Monitors Our Client’s Networks Through Hurricane Irene

As Hurricane Irene approached New York, CSI used our 24x7x365 Paladin Monitoring service to help our clients prepare their computers and networks for the impending hurricane.  We were able to quickly identify all the uninterruptible power  supplies (aka batteries) under management which had bad batteries or other hardware issues.  Equipment plugged into these battery units had a greater than normal exposure to power fluxuations.

One client site was intending to shut down their entire operations during the storm.  Before they shut their equipment down we identified a server that was compromised with bad drives in a RAID array and other hardware issues.   Our concern was that since this critical server already had a failed redundant component plus other issues, it might be shut off and never come back on-line.  Realizing that time was of the essence in repairing the server, we were able to use Paladin's remote management tools to remotely reach into the server at 12am Saturday as the storm approached to rebuild the redundant drive and re-establish full redundancy before the server was actually shutdown.   The client never had to get out of bed.  No one had to show up to let us into the building, turn off the alarm and unlock the multiple doors required to get to the server closet.  After our work was completed, the server went down as the client had planned and came up fine after the storm.

During the storm we pro-actively monitored our customers networks and provided active status updates as we saw buildings and servers go down due to power failures throughout the region.   By looking at the previous alerts and querying the power supplies we were able to identify the difference between "no power" and actual equipment failures.

Once the storm subsided on Sunday we were able to pinpoint exactly what buildings were off-line around the region.  Then as those buildings came back on-line we were able to pinpoint exactly what equipment inside each building did not turn back on.   From there we had a list of devices for either the client's technical staff or CSI's staff to investigate.

Sunday night I was personally watching over our client's networks via the Paladin monitoring console.  In the middle of that I lost power at home.  I walked outside and started up my generator.  I then turned on my Verizon wireless card on my laptop and didn't miss a beat.

CSI's office has an ample standby generator of its own and an excellent internet connection so our 24x7x365 monitoring continued regardless of the storm conditions.

Once Monday morning came despite the flooding, road closures and massive power outages in some areas most of our clients went back to work with their computer networks operating much like they did on Friday when they left for the weekend.

That is what CSI's Paladin Monitoring does 24x7x365.   We'd love to discuss with you how Paladin Monitoring combined with our expert technical staff can take care of your computer networks in the same way as we do all our other Paladin Monitoring clients.  Contact CSI for more information.