IT Support
Client Stories
One day we received a referral from an existing client in Grand Junction, CO. They explained they had a company in desperate need of IT support. Brief company background: Small to medium sized business, between 10-20 employees, and very technologically savvy. They were able to configure their network and build a custom database to run their business without any outside assistance.
The owner of the distressed company gave us call, explaining they were experiencing multiple problems including: RAID failure, corrupt backups, and intermittent connectivity issues with their workstations. Specifically, they were battling an error stating, “Lost trust relationship with server…” and had been for several weeks.
POINTS OF FAILURE
- RAID failure – Hard drives were corrupt and dying, cause was unknown.
- Incomplete backups – Daily backups were running, but incomplete and missing data.
- Workstation connectivity – The workstations had lost their trust relationship with the domain, causing intermittent connection issues between the server and workstations.
- Data recovery center - RAID failed and the data could not be copied over to a new drive. The corrupt drives were taken to a data recovery center, where the plates where taken out, (luckily) all data was salvaged, and put onto a new hard drive. Remember that this takes time, and costs thousands upon thousands of dollars to recover your information.
POINTS OF RECOVERY
- Rebuilding the domain - The current IT company spent several weeks rebuilding the domain, put the data back into place, and re-joined the workstations. This is where the true fun began, and hitting an obstacle that would be hard for most to overcome. The offsite workstations would (sometimes) connect to the server files and company database, and suddenly loose connection.
- Experience - A situation like this often times requires a certain area of expertise and a full understanding of how domains and trust relationships work. A computer will lose its trust relationship with the domain after 60 days. Each computer will keep a cache of all credentials, thus allowing it to connect to the domain (intermittently).
During a 10 minute phone conversation with the owner we were able to diagnose the exact problem and provide a permanent solution. It took Computer Crews less than 2 days to repair the domain, re-join the workstations and setup credential mapping, there-by eliminating all intermittent issues.
Since then, we have taken proactive measures to ensure protection and reduce recovery time. Implementing a disaster recovery device, verifying full multi-layered backups, and optimizing systems all help you prepare for future disasters. The big question is, “What would happen to your business if you lost a server or storage device?”
90% of companies that lose their data will close their doors!
Many companies would not be able to survive after weeks of downtime. Implementing a disaster recovery plan can mean the difference in weeks of downtime versus just a couple of hours. As the case for many, this company had a “false security” in thinking that their backups were successfully running every day and “supposedly” complete. More times than not, one layer of backups isn’t enough, data goes missing, and resurrecting your business becomes impossible.
Computer Crews was able to troubleshoot and find a solution from 250 miles away. This was done without ever having to physically look at the problem. In less than 2 days we fixed all issues, including the cleanup of over 20 netbooks. They have not had an intermittent problem in over a year, and are extremely grateful this burden is behind them.
This is a great example of how “Unlimited Helpdesk” helped save their company from disaster and didn’t empty their wallets at the same time. We focus on the “all or nothing” approach in that we take on all of your issues, help protect your system, enforce proactive solutions or nothing at all. From the beginning, we help ensure smooth sailing, reduce IT headaches, and protect your system from future attacks. Our main goal is take away these stresses so you can focus on what truly matters, your business!