Disaster Recovery & Project Managment

Disaster Recovery and Project Management

Fire Devastates a Local High School

In 2012 a major high school in Tamworth suffered a devastating fire resulting in the complete functional loss of an entire building which also housed the main data centre.

With approximately 1300 users over 350 endpoints and a school that needed to operate as normally as possible, months of downtime was not an option.

A monumental task ahead

Immediately after being notified of the fire, we set to work on creating our plan to get the school back up and running.

Since the data centre for the school was in the fire affected building, we planned several recovery options depending on the situation that was unfolding including:
  • transferring more roles to our backup server
  • introduce a new server and restore our main backup
  • if the original equipment is ok, move it to a new location once it is safe to do so
Through good fortune we were able to get up and running using our preferred method which was to move the network equipment from the original server room which was the only room unaffected by fire, smoke or water damage left in the original building. 

Once the fire department gave us restricted and supervised access we began to implement our plan.

We would move the equipment required to run the network, however all the inter building fibre connections ran through the affected server room. While there was enough spare fibre runs that we could have passively linked it together and switched the signals elsewhere -  It was absolutely critical that the damaged building be severed completely from the network to avoid any downtime caused by repair or demolition works.

Luckily we were present during previous network upgrades so were able to identify and reuse older decommissioned data cabling to reconnect the buildings together. We could also move the WAN router to another building to tap in to a working fibre Internet connection.
  • We successfully commissioned a fully equipped temporary data centre and the school’s computers, Internet and phones were working within hours of the first day back.

Business as usual?

Due to the fire, many faculties, classrooms and administration areas were forced to relocate, often multiple times over the next four years while the school was rebuilt.

Maintaining a "Business as usual" appearance in spite of all the challenges thrown at us was extremely important to the success of this project. 

The day to day operations of the network needed to work correctly during school hours, however there were lots of major equipment moves and network level changes required on a regular basis due to the construction works including having to move the temporary server room to another temporary location so the original room could be used more appropriately as a staff space.

We assisted in the process of planning and provisioning temporary areas including setting up computers and networking hardware to ensure the school was able to function as seamlessly as possible during this difficult transition.

A fresh start

We worked closely with the school, Department of Education planners and site construction crew to ensure the new areas were built with both the present and reasonable future use in mind.
  • Our advice included server room design, computer placement and electrical/data plan recommendations.
After the construction of the new building, many existing areas were substantially renovated as well including a complete rebuild of the front office and administration areas. 

We have enjoyed helping the school through this difficult transition.

Don't let downtime due to disaster affect your business. Let us help you create a business continuity plan and backup system before you need it based on your determined risks. Get in touch with us so we can begin planning!

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