Maximizing the Computer's Uptime

In order for Active Call Center to work, the computer that runs it has to be functioning. A computer can be non-functional for many different reasons, but the typical causes are usually:

• Power failures (power interruption or PC power supply failure)
• PC component failures (hard drive crash, electrical short, etc.)
• Operating system or software corruption or unrecoverable crash

Typically, CPU (processor) failures and RAM failures in a computer are extremely rare. The most likely components to fail on a PC are mechanical components such as the hard drive or power switch.

Here are some suggestions to increase the reliability of a PC:

• Install an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or battery backup to reduce or eliminate downtime due to power failure.
• Install a surge protector (if it's not part of the UPS) to guard against power spikes and surges.
• Install a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) solution to guard against hard disk crashes. When a hard drive crashes in a RAID array, other hard drives in the array keep working and the faulty drive can usually be hot-swapped later. RAID costs have come down significantly over the past few years.
• Get a PC that has a backup hot-swappable power supply unit. With that, if the power supply inside the PC ever fails, the built-in backup will keep working until the faulty unit can be replaced.
• Make frequent backups and keep the recent ones on hand in case of an operating system or software corruption. In the unlikely event that the operating system or software stops working for some unknown reason, the hard drive should be quickly restored from a working backup.

Redundant Systems

Applications requiring even greater levels of availability might require a redundant PC configuration. In this setup, one main PC answers calls, but the phone lines are rolled over into a second backup PC. If the first PC fails for any reason, the backup system will take over without any interruption to the end user. Presumably a system technician would find out about the error and fix the first PC before the second PC failed.

While this section has provided some tips for configuring a more reliable PC system for hosting Active Call Center, it is not intended to be a reference guide for building fault tolerant systems. Please consult your systems professional for specific advice and guidelines for implementing a high uptime computer configuration.