The List to Hurricane Preperation

Computer & Network Hurricane 
Preparation For Business Or Residential

Below prep tips are mainly for business, but can be applied at home too On your final day of departure, either to go home or to evacuate for the storm, don’t forget to properly prepare your business assets, Follow the procedure below to secure your network.

1. Turn off your computers & servers.
2. Turn off your battery backups and unplug from the wall socket.
3. Make sure your server, computers, and battery backups are off of the ground if you are in a single-story unit. The Lithium in the batteries of a UPS are flammable and they are potentially explosive when exposed to air and especially to water.
4. Making additional data backups 24 to 36 hours before expected landfall.
5. Take your external backup drive plugged into your server home with you. Keep it in a safe location.
6. Cover your computers, servers, network equipment and IT components with plastic.
7. Moving computers away from the windows and doors.
8. If you have VoIP phones, take the main reception phone with you and plug it into your internet wherever you have evacuated to. If you do not, forward your phones to your cell phone or download your provider’s cell phone app and login with your provider username and password.
9. Before you leave, make sure to take pictures of everything. Take pictures of all the computers, the inside of your business, the outside.
10. Ensuring your team brings any essential computers with them when they evacuate, especially computers with business-critical applications that are installed locally, such as QuickBooks, AutoCAD, or custom applications.
11. Very last unplug all network equipment, as power surges are common during and after the storm.

 

Things to note:

• Remote access will not work when your computers, internet, or server is offline. Take the files you need with you.
• When you restart the network upon your return, start the network equipment first, next your server, then the rest of the computers so they connect to the server properly.
• If you travel, make sure your mobile devices are secured. Storms are a great time to have iPads, iPhones, laptops stolen out of cars!

How to forward your Landline Phones:

• Dial *72+(Forwarding Number) including area code
• End your call.
• Turn off forwarding: Call *73