Are Comatose Servers Draining Your Wallet and Leaving You Vulnerable?
August 30th, 2016 by admin
Those old servers your business no longer uses—and keeps running anyway—are more than just a security risk: They’re hurting your firm’s bottom line.
The term comatose server describes a functional server, connected to a network, that sits idle virtually all of the time. If your business is running three servers, there’s a high chance that at least one of them is a “zombie server.”
30 percent of all servers are comatose. This means that approximately 10 million servers across the planet are sitting around doing nothing productive.
According to the Wall Street Journal, most companies are better at getting new servers online than taking old servers offline. A managed service provider (MSP) can help your business identify inactive servers and dismantle them, both to reduce costs and improve security.
Security Concerns
A comatose server can be a major security risk for your business. Unlike that shiny new server running the latest software, the old one is likely running a legacy operating system necessary to utilize older applications. These forgotten servers are also unlikely to receive security updates. If hackers are looking to break into your business network, they are going to have an easy time breaching an outdated system with established security exploits. Because even though these servers aren’t being used, they are likely to hold important—or even confidential—information.
Wasting Electricity
That’s not all, says the Wall Street Journal. The 3.6 million zombie servers in the United States are also wasting a staggering 1.44 gigawatts of electricity—enough to power every home in Chicago. While your business’s unused servers are just a drop in the bucket compared to the national problem, you’re still looking at a hefty energy bill to keep a dormant server running over time. If we consider that, on average, electricity costs 12 cents per kWh in the U.S., that means running a 850-watt server costs about $890 a year. Two comatose servers wasting energy for five years total nearly $9,000 in electricity expenses—money your business could save just by flipping a switch.
Hunting for Zombies
An IT consulting service can help your business identify and dismantle comatose servers. The process involves identifying every server your business owns and runs, and determining which ones aren’t being used anymore. Some older servers may not be running domain-name-system software, so they may not show up when searching the network directory—meaning you may need to hunt them down manually.
Of course, it’s unlikely that a smaller firm has more than a handful of servers, so creating a server inventory is often as straightforward as looking at the office server rack. Businesses that have a much larger group of servers to work with may need a network scanning tool to find servers. But remember: The savings and security benefits begin as soon as the comatose servers are turned off.