For most companies, a server crash can mean extended downtime, idle employees, high stress and thousands of dollars in lost business opportunity.
There are many reasons why a server might crash in some cases this is inevitable even in the best of conditions. With that said, you should still adhere to taking the preventative measures needed to ensure that your servers are up and running as it serves as the heartbeat of your technology driven business. Here are the top five tips for keeping your server environment up and running:
Use a Windows Server Scheme
Deploying your server using the Windows Service scheme will cause it to ‘self-clean’ and automatically restart the application. An IT server under this scheme is self-contained; meaning that other applications running on the same machine should not be affected if it crashes.
Run an Isolated Process Web Tier
For performance and stability reasons, you should also operate your web tier as an Isolated Process. This keeps your web tier from crashing other ISAPI DLLs and vice versa. It’s interesting to note that when a crash does occur, the report of the crash will be logged; this gives you the ability to locate the source of the problem that caused the IT server to crash.
Utilize Cloud Managed Services
Preventing IT server crashes using cloud managed services is another good preventative measure. When the volume of Web traffic suddenly surges, an IT server can experience a complete system overload. Cloud hosting is the best option for high traffic sites or those susceptible to major traffic spikes, as resources are easily scalable. Cloud backup services can also help in disaster recovery in the event of server downtime.
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Maintain a Cool Environment
Server rooms are at the heart of IT operations, and in order to prevent hardware malfunction and system failure, proper operation and setup is critical. Excess heat can especially wreak havoc for small to mid-sized business servers. For most companies, a server crash can mean extended downtime, idle employees, high stress and thousands of dollars in lost business opportunity. If proper attention isn’t given to your server system in your IT room, the outside temperature combined with heat generated from the machines themselves could literally destroy your server system beyond repair! Here are a few steps to ensure this does not happen:
- Create ample airflow within your server room by maximizing your space. This may involve removing clutter and rearranging server cables to prevent accidentally unplugging the wrong one and causing a power outage.
- Line up multiple servers in a row so cold air passes along the front of the servers and is released out the back.
- Buy a server room A/C, preferably a portable one. You could also consider buying a rack enclosure with a built-in cooling system.
- Keep the temperature below 77 degrees. As an added precaution, install a temperature monitor that automatically emails you when your server room gets overheated.
- Make sure you keep the doors to the server room closed to prevent dust and other airborne particles from entering and accumulating on the servers.
- Install blanking panels if you have any empty spaces on your server rack to maximize airflow.
- Reduce the number of IT servers in the room.
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Frequently Monitor Your Servers
It’s also important to stay on top of your servers’ performance to target errors or frequent high loads to see what’s causing it before the server crashes. Good monitoring can be just as important as all of the other preventative measures listed. Server monitoring not only helps you quickly react when a malfunction occurs, but it also helps you gets things back online if something goes wrong. You can even set up monitoring tools that alert you of your servers’ performance in real-time. Even when a server’s performance is normal, security threats such as Trojan horses, worms, and denial of service (DOS) types of attacks can cause a server to either go offline or potentially crash. As always if you don’t have the time or resources to do all of this you can outsource your IT monitoring to an experienced Manged IT Service provider such as CompuData.
Aside from regularly monitoring server loads, disabling sites that frequently abuse server resources greatly minimizes subsequent performance strain. It is also wise to check and see if your servers are fully patched.
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Bonus Tip: Additionally, physically and logically diversified load balancing and clustering will help you prevent a server crash. Performing global load balancing takes more careful consideration due to its complex nature. Get with your managed IT services provider to evaluate your customer base and see if taking such a step is worth the time, money and effort.