True Cost of Physical IT Infrastructure
Content
In today’s virtual world is is ever so popular to operate company IT infrastructure on physical servers. We will leave the reasons aside but focus on what everyone really wants to know – how much.
It is possible that an IT department has received a budget for purchasing servers so they are looking forward to the sum being invested into the purchase of loaded physical pachines. But in the end, everyone is disappointed. Why? Because there is a big difference between how muc it costs and how much it truly costs.
We will look at a total cost of ownership for physical servers. Given that every company is different, we cannot work with generalized calculations because there is no such thing. It’s better we look at the items that will help you get a good picture.
- CAPEX investment costs
- OPEX operation costs
- Crises
- Insurance
Initial Investments
At this phase already we encounter a first let-down. Outside of the servers themselves, it is necessary to buy additional hardware that is crucial for running physical infrastructure.
We need to select servers that have the configuration that closely resembles the needs we have and also covers the potential future needs as well. Does that sound confusing? You got that right.
Then we procure the UPS back-up battery system. They can be found for quite the bargain buut as it is said, little money, little music. The main thing is what kind of outage you need to cover and if the back-up system has multiple elements (for example in a data center that could be a regular large engine). Here we need to ass that the average life span of the UPS does not reach the 5 years we count with when we take into consideration the life span of the servers. From this stand point we need to count the unit twice. Many companies omit this item to save but…
We also count with a regular cooling unit. Servers can be cooled wit a window up to a certain degree but we mention it because we are trying to mmake a list of a responsible company. We therefore don’t want the temperature going up and down unnecessarily so it is better to ensure a steady flow of cooling. Some systems are also particularly touchy when it comes to temperatures so if you decide to heat your office with the server just know that the hardware won’t thank you for that.
An Internet connection, of course, is already in your office and functioning and you will probably also find a spot in the switch. If your infrastructure is critical for your business and you cannot risk long-term outages, you mind reconsider a secondary connection.
Another item we cannot forget is a fire extinguishing system. Some companies leave this out but if you have a server in your office and something goes wrong, you will be left with neither the server, nor the office.
And you surely will want to handle security – on the level not to lose your data (a back-up for example) or on the level of physical protection from theft. And don’t forget to add also the costs for transportation and installation.
Operational Costs
We have successfully put effort and time into ensuring all the necessary equipment. And now you are awaiting the 5 years of problemless operation… of course, no one really counts with that. But it is also very probable that many companies do not take into consideration all the operational costs the physical infrastructure needs.
Of course you will find costs for electricity for the servers, cooling and back-up systems. But your technicians will also have to devote their time to caring for it.
And don’t forget to add costs for regular mmaintenance and servicing of individual devices including the unplanned one, repairs, updates and checks.
- Monthly checks- upgrades, updates, antivirus scan, capacity evaluation, maintenance
- Annual checks – turn-off and cleaning, check of physical components
Especially this annual part of the job is very important because the servers are like giagantic vacuum cleaners without any filter. All particles from the environment are constantly being sucked in. This is why a downtime is necessary to clean everything. And at that point, you need to run your IT somewhere.
And everything is complicated even more because we have to take into account the life spans. We have been talking about cost items for the 5 years but what what happens when they pass? Yes, the whole thing starts again. Technologies have changed, devices, manufacturers so it is not about the whole order being placed as it were.
Crises Handling
Every crisis costs something. With IT, there are several possibilities – failure, human error, theft, accident, attack.
Physical failure
Hardware is not immune to breaking and so it can happen that a part just fails. It can also happen that the servers encounters an error and youu need to restart it.
But such a situation like a physical drive failure is not a simple solution. It is not just about unplug-plug to another server (by the way, with cloud, it is a simple fix).
The influence of these events quite often results in the interruption of the whole operations and missing out on revenues. Time is required to unplug the system, find the failure, resolve it and then make everything up and running again.
HUman Error
We are used to spending a lot of time beside our devices and so a smart device sometimes becomes a snack plate. The technicians are not an exception but for them, this plate can be a device that is responsible for running the whole company infrastructure.
Theft
Physical servers are also prone to being stolen. Yo don’t only risk your data but also the very expensive machine.
And remember that all the thiefs have to do is take your drives out fo the server, they don’t need the whole thing. And when we mentioned the physical drives not fitting into every server, it is not impossible to find one. The timme during an outage you can hardly sacrifice, is at the hands of the people that will plug the drive in and steal your data not only physically but also digitally.
accident
It might happen there is an overload, an electricity outage or a pipe ruptures. In these situations, the accident doesn’t only involve your office but also all the equipment. And let’s be honest — no hardware likes that.
It is great that your company backs data up and does that regularly. But when you take a closer look, the cables from the plant lead still to the same place – like your servers. At the point when the house is hit with a lightning, even if you had twenty back-ups, it would not be of any use because they will all burn. The same applies to being flooded by a neighbor.
ATTACK
If you are afraid of a ransomware attack – a malicious software attack that encrypts your data and requires you to pay a ransom – then the solution is not to keep the back-ups in the same house. Not only the electric wires lead to the same cabinette but the Internet connection has the same start. So no unplugging from network, no viable back-ups under attack.
IT Insurance
Your company surely has a very good insurance. But does this statement also apply to your IT infrastructure? When an event happens and a claim is made, sometimes it is quite a battle to manage the situation and also get to the damages. If you utilize a good IT insurance, the technologies will reward you generously and will function exactly in the way you need them to.
So how does the IT insruance work? It has two parts – risk analysis and a disaster recovery plan.
- Risk analysis – a thorough analysis of all potential threats, their significance and also ways to manage them. This analysis will result in a cost list relates to measures that relate to individual threats.
- Disaster recovery plan – a document that defines the step-by-step process during an outage.
These two documents will include a certain plan of costs but you have to take into consideration also another number – forgone profit. Today there are only a very few companies that don’t need IT for their basic operations. So you need to calculate the missed profits for every hour the IT is not running. These values should then be compared with the outputs of the analyses.
But with cloud, many of these costs and stresses just go away because they are transferred to the provider. Thanks to cloud, you save and preserve your nerves.
