Floods, heat, freeze, rain, heck, even earthquakes.... wise folks have those in the back of their mind when setting up computers, networks, and all that goes with it. Put in place all the appropriate safety measures such as regular backups, filters, surge protectors, battery back up... and yet....
We get nailed from time to time.
Had a lightning strike about 10 feet from the office. Immediate result was loss of all power (powerline was knocked out by falling tree). After the lights came back on it was discovered that two systems had lost their onboard ethernet ports, but otherwise okay. One system lost the poser supply. The modem died, as did the router and wifi. Bad enough, but compared to what it might have been!
These little USB to FastEthernet dongles are great. Those two systems were back on line in a flash. The modem, we keep at least one in the box, had us connected inside the hour. The router required a trip to the parts house, thus put just about Everything on hold for 8 hours as it is not close by.
When all is said and done, ten hours lost just to get back to where we were before Mother Nature sent a bit of fiery love our way.
Moral of story? There's some things you just can't avoid, but if there is some planning ahead, it won't keep you down for too long. The spare modem kept the office open.... but a spare router would have been nice.
And that has been addressed!
Depending on the size of your shop, having spare parts on hand cam make a difference.
