Cold Server

What Does Cold Server Mean?

A cold server is a disaster recovery backup server that operates only if the main server is interrupted or fails. A cold server holds all main server files and programs and remains in an unpowered state until a backup is required.

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Techopedia Explains Cold Server

Once the appropriate software is installed on a cold server, it is turned off until it is needed. Because warm and hot servers may be cost-prohibitive, cold servers are preferred by most organizations. However, manual cold server downtime configuration is not always feasible, and a cold server demands substantial effort to bring it online. Nevertheless, this option is considerably less expensive when compared to warm and hot servers. In most cases, cold servers host low-level applications with minimal criticality.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…