seems strange that heat caused these systems to go down the same time it was reported the NHS was under a cyber attack…
Perhaps their apps are not SaaS-based and run on their own in-house servers located in their own server room (as opposed to being off-prem in a data center)? If the building’s AC failed then their servers – which generate a ton of heat – may also have failed. The Grauniad fails to provide any specific details and manages instead to shoe horn climate change into its article.
If I’m right then WTF is a hospital doing hosting its mission critical systems on-prem and in an environment that clearly lacks redundancy?
The description does not suggest it was a “server” issue but an infrastructure issue. Even if you have the most buzzword compliant (“SaaS, Colocation, Redundancy, tc.”) Systems architecture you still need actual wires and actual workstations that actually function. And the Workstations can “gracefully fail”. Given that they all require to be convergent in specification to function well together, yes, they could all fail due to heat. Having a top of the range, remote, SaaS, Colocation facility with multiple redunancy only actually works if the end users connection are up to the same specification. Workstations do not function well for prolonged periods at the extremes of temperature. Nothing to do with anything but actually providing equipment that is appropriate. Which costs cash.
The Register has more info. As suspected, Data center failures. Or, more specifically, HVAC failures. The hospital’s DRP is shitty though as they should have been able to cut over to an alternate site. Assuming, of course, they have the funds to support and maintain this level of redundancy.
This would never have happened had they been running IE6 ^/s
Glad I’m not the only one whose modern electronics really suffer in the heat!
None of my modern games consoles can handle room temperatures being above 26’C without automatically shutting themselves off during play to “protect from overheating”.
My older gen games consoles, however, have no problem whatsoever with the heat, and are still going strong even after all these decades of play!
That’s not to mention how slow and sluggish my laptop performs during heatwaves…
7 comments
seems strange that heat caused these systems to go down the same time it was reported the NHS was under a cyber attack…
Perhaps their apps are not SaaS-based and run on their own in-house servers located in their own server room (as opposed to being off-prem in a data center)? If the building’s AC failed then their servers – which generate a ton of heat – may also have failed. The Grauniad fails to provide any specific details and manages instead to shoe horn climate change into its article.
If I’m right then WTF is a hospital doing hosting its mission critical systems on-prem and in an environment that clearly lacks redundancy?
The description does not suggest it was a “server” issue but an infrastructure issue. Even if you have the most buzzword compliant (“SaaS, Colocation, Redundancy, tc.”) Systems architecture you still need actual wires and actual workstations that actually function. And the Workstations can “gracefully fail”. Given that they all require to be convergent in specification to function well together, yes, they could all fail due to heat. Having a top of the range, remote, SaaS, Colocation facility with multiple redunancy only actually works if the end users connection are up to the same specification. Workstations do not function well for prolonged periods at the extremes of temperature. Nothing to do with anything but actually providing equipment that is appropriate. Which costs cash.
The Register has more info. As suspected, Data center failures. Or, more specifically, HVAC failures. The hospital’s DRP is shitty though as they should have been able to cut over to an alternate site. Assuming, of course, they have the funds to support and maintain this level of redundancy.
The comments are worth a read as well.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/22/hospital_it_meltdown/
This would never have happened had they been running IE6 ^/s
Glad I’m not the only one whose modern electronics really suffer in the heat!
None of my modern games consoles can handle room temperatures being above 26’C without automatically shutting themselves off during play to “protect from overheating”.
My older gen games consoles, however, have no problem whatsoever with the heat, and are still going strong even after all these decades of play!
That’s not to mention how slow and sluggish my laptop performs during heatwaves…
This just seems to be the same story from [21st July](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/21/london-nhs-trust-cancels-operations-as-it-system-fails-in-heatwave) with less details…