In all access control systems there is a database holding all the information about your facilities system and the people who use it. This includes the configuration settings for your access control panels, card readers, keypads, locks, schedules, card holders, access levels, and time zones. All this information exists on your server, and when the inevitability of that machine dying happens unless there is a backup of that information, it all has to be recreated. This is a very time consuming and expensive process. It involves reconfiguring every device on site, re-inputting all card holder information, and re-testing the system to make sure it all works again.
AVC receives calls at least once a month from a customer when a server has crashed and no backup is available. Fortunately this is a very easy problem to avoid. Each brand of access control system has a unique way of backing up this information, but each of them do have a way to do it. It usually only takes a few minutes, and if done properly and regularly can save a lot of time and frustration for everyone.
When a server goes down the system usually will continue to work as long as power is not lost to the access control panels. After this, however, the doors will act in their default state, often leaving people locked out of places they’d like to be. This causes much lost time and inconvenience amongst our customer’s employees. A common misperception is that the information can just be downloaded back from the panels if the server is lost. This is not the case, the communication of this information to the panel can only happen in one way, from the server to the panel, and can not be recovered.
If you are unaware how to backup your system, please contact us as soon as possible to set up a time for us to walk you through the process, or come out and show you how. We also recommend that customers use a reminder tool, such as a recurring calendar event at least monthly to help you remember to keep this backup up to date. It is also important that this backup is not stored on the server itself. If that server is damaged, or the hard drive malfunctions the backup may also be lost.
Another important point is that you must also maintain an Installation CD of the current software version of the access control software you have. If this CD cannot be found, and cannot be obtained from the manufacturer due to an expired service agreement, or for any other reason, then the software cannot be loaded for the database to be restored to. This can be nearly as bad as having no backup at all. If you are not aware of where your installation CD is, please let AVC know and we’ll help to make sure you have a copy on hand.