Regardless of how big your enterprise is, it is always susceptible to downtime. A great management service like VitalEdge IT for instance ensures that inevitable downtime is reduced to mere minutes in an entire year.
Here are some more important tips to prevent server downtime.
1. Get an Effective Alerting and Monitoring System on-board
You must be aware of what is happening with your server infrastructure at all times. This is the surest way to prevent downtime. Prevention is better than cure, so anticipating issues and solving them before they cause problems is all part of good monitoring.
The need of a reliable software package that maintains your servers’ performance has never been more urgent. With everything stored on the cloud, an active threat detection software is paramount in keeping unsightly errors in check.
In terms of monitoring, a good system should keep a tab on the following health statuses:
- Disk Space
- Server Load
- Page Load times
- Hardware Health
- Software Status
When it comes to threat management, a good system should deal with malign viruses with intrusion detection and quick incident response.
2. Make use of High Availability
Think of High Availability as a solid back up. It is especially handy in times of unsightly downtime. To achieve High Availability, you require two servers – primary and secondary. The primary server runs all of the traffic on your site. Meanwhile, the secondary server sits back and synchronizes files with the primary server. This way the secondary server catches up. In the event of a downtime, the secondary server can take over the traffic while the primary server recovers.
This practice is very common with database servers. The relationship between the primary and the secondary server is referred to as automatic failover.
Another High Availability setup is the active-active relationship. Here two servers run simultaneously receiving, processing and sending data. Neither is secondary to the other. In an event of downtime where one server is affected, the other server automatically takes on the traffic and continues the work. Unlike automatic failover, active-active does not need to wait for a secondary server to take charge.
3. Store Server Infrastructure in Different Locations
Similar to High Availability, there is another backup strategy that works to cope with downtime. This method is referred to as geography redundancy.
The strategy encourages companies to store their hosting server infrastructure in different locations. With a large enough distance, any mishap on one location will not impact the other servers. For example, when server ‘A’ goes down, server ‘B’ will divert all the traffic to itself. As a result, your site will continue to run.
Investing in two separate infrastructure locations is a costly ordeal. But by remaining online all the time you ensure that your site is active. This means you can earn back your investment on two locations by working more efficiently.
4. Reversing and Versioning of Codes
Human beings are capable of making mistakes. It is an unavoidable stepping stone towards learning anything in life. Which is why it is completely understandable when a coder or employee causes a server outage by mistake.
This comes down to trust and work culture. Anytime someone writes a new code, they should show it to others for tests. Only after proper review should the new code be implemented, modified, removed etc. Most large corporations use the peer review or code review strategy. This ensures that not even a simple typo remains unchecked.
To know more about Desktop and Server Management fill the Free Security Network Risk Assessment form at VitalEdge IT website. Or, you can also call the company at 866-GO-VitalEdge IT-NOW (855-367-8348).