Essential Components Of A Server Maintenance Plan

A server doesn't require maintenance in the form of oil changes and tire pressure checks, but in many ways owning computer devices that act as a server is a bit like owning a vehicle. Driving a car does not require engineering skills, and running a server does not need it. You might be a hardware engineer or software developer.

You need to know some basics right with a car, those oil changes, and tire pressure checks plus the exceptional service. In the same way, a server requires routine maintenance, and it is not just a subject of paying monthly hosting fees. Your server needs a lot of regular maintenance, much more than a vehicle.

You don't want to be an engineer to do this maintenance, but you must know that a server runs 24/7, serving millions of clients will require a server maintenance plan. It rarely includes physical wear in tear; you are not going to hear your server squeaking aside as it searches for data. But on a software level, there is a story of wear and tear. Let's get a look.

Why you require a server maintenance plan

The moving elements in your server often last a lifetime; nobody opens up hard drives and oils their bearings, for example. At worst, you may require to replace a fan or two, but even these unusually give up the ghost. However, servers do catch "mileage" in a software sense of the word.

Over time, your server will create up large repositories and records, including cache files, which can slow down transaction charges. The fragmentation of SQL tables over time is an issue too. As transaction volume builds, old server settings may no longer be valid, and your server's software will become a soft target for attackers. Finally, both HDDs and SSDs eventually degrade, though this happens over a long period.

What happens when server degradation occurs? Well, at best, you can suffer from slower server performance, which can cause glitches in your workload and lead to unhappy customers. At worst, you can face massive data corruption and data loss or data theft due to hacking. Thankfully most of the server maintenance problems we pointed out can be managed away using a server maintenance plan.