Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
If.you.need.to.manage,.retain,.or.preserve.data.from.a.ile.
server,.you.need.to.know.who.the.network.administrator.is.
and.how.to.contact.him.or.her..You.also.need.to.know.who.
has. the. supervisory. authentication. to. allow. or. compel. that.
administrator.to.grant.you.the.access.you.might.need.
Before. we. leave. the. subject. of. servers,. we. need. to. take.
a.moment.to.touch.on.
virtual
.servers,.or.
virtual.machines
,.
sometimes.referred.to.as.VMs..Again,.without.going.too.deep.
into.the.engineering,.you.just.need.to.understand.that.a.vir-
tual.machine.is.a.way.to.use.the.storage.space.and.hardware.
on. a. computer. or. server. eficiently. to. store. more. than. one.
operating.system.or.more.than.one.server.on.the.same.physi-
cal.device.
By.utilizing.a.programming.tool.called.a.
hypervisor
,.sep-
arate. servers. with. different. functions. and. connections. to. a.
network.can.all.use.the.same.hardware.such.as.the.proces-
sors,.keyboards,.sound,.video,.monitors,.and.so.forth,.on.one.
device..This.same.technology.can.be.used.on.a.desktop.or.
laptop. computer. to. create. different. “virtual”. operating. sys-
tems.or.sets.of.applications.on.one.piece.of.hardware.
Virtual. systems. have. become. quite. popular. as. a. way. to.
save. energy,. space,. and. resources. in. our. ever-expanding.
information.universe.
This. is. important. to. understand. when. you. consider. the.
physical.location.of.information.you.may.need.to.collect.for.
litigation. or. compliance. or. retention. reasons.. It. is. possible.
that. the. information. you. need. physically. exists. on. a. hard.
drive.that.also.contains.information.and.data.that.have.noth-
ing.at.all.to.do.with.your.needs.
Where.this.can.become.a.problem.is.when.you.need.to.
shut. down. the. system. in. order. to. acquire. the. data. or. do.
some.kind.of.maintenance..This.will.directly.affect.all.of.the.
other.virtual.machines.and.functions.using.the.same.physi-
cal.hardware.device..You.will.need.to.carefully.consider.and.
document. what. you. need. to. do. and. how. you. will. do. it. in.
order. to. maintain. the. integrity. and. functionality. of. all. the.
systems.involved.
