UPS
UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), especially the battery
backup side of the UPS, is critical to keeping your POS system running
smoothly. During the storm season, the
chance of power interruption increases in the form of blackout or
brownout. Blackout is easier to detect
but brownout may not be easily felt.
Power fluctuation can also cause a power surge. Any one of these power outage scenarios could
damage your POS system or any electronic devices that are not protected by a
surge protector or UPS. If any of your
POS system devices are not plugged into an UPS, you should consider purchasing
one. If you have UPS’s and do not
remember when they was installed or replaced, you should replace them. You don’t want to replace your car battery
after it dies and you don’t want to wait until any part of your POS system
sustains damage before you install or replace your UPS.
Your POS system is equipped with backup devices and
media. There may by automatic file
backups but there is always a removable backup device and media in the form of
external hard drive, DVD-RW drive and discs.
This should be your daily or weekly routine to make sure your system is
backed up to the removable media. This
will allow for the quickest way to restore your system after a hard drive
replacement. Make sure making removable
backup is part of your operational routine, just like counting cashiers and
running reports.
Venting/Cooling
Take a moment to inspect the surroundings of your POS
equipment. All electronic equipment will
have vents for cooling. Take a look to
make sure your POS equipment has room for cooling. Look at the vents and make sure the vents
clear of dusts and are not blocked.
Although your IBM POS systems are designed to withstand the toughest
condition in the retail environment, it is still a good practice to help your
system running at peak performance.
In the event of an imminent storm approaching, the logical
thing to do is to move your mission critical equipment out of harm’s way. If flooding is possible and moving all the
equipment out of the store is not workable, one of the things you could do is
to move the equipment to the top of the conveyer belt. However, if flooded, cables, especially
network cables, should be replaced.
Remember, the three most important things to do to ensure the least
amount of down time is backup, backup and backup.
