Streamline Your Business’s Workflow & Enhance Productivity with Effective Server Management
You may use state-of-the-art servers for your business, but their efficiency can diminish over time. Managing them properly is key to optimising your overall business operations.
Many organisations heavily rely on servers to perform various IT functions, including sending and receiving emails, remote collaborative work, running applications, hosting websites, and data storage.
Although more and more companies have converted to cloud-based services that utilise using remote data centres in recent times, many enterprises still continue to depend on in-house servers. As such, they need to ensure their devices remain in prime condition to ensure that their operations don’t get adversely impacted.
That’s where effective server management comes into play!
Managing your servers can boost productivity as well as help streamline the overall performance of your team by allowing them to complete complex tasks faster. Plus, it can also enable your employees to detect problems much earlier, before they get out of hand and potentially compromise your business. As a result, the risk of experiencing operational setbacks is drastically lower too.
The only way to make the most of your server management is to perform it correctly, however. And to help you do so, our article will share nine key tips on improving your server management in your business!
Server Management: IT Leaders’ Insider Tips To Ensure Success For Your Business!
TIP #1 – Ensuring your servers are mounted properly
Small businesses often need to prioritise immediate concerns over long-term plans because they need to work on tight budgets. This is particularly evident in terms of server management.
When you first set up your servers, it might be tempting to connect them near your workstations. However, this has the potential to harm your hardware in the long term.
Mounting your servers in racks is a much better solution as it provides adequate ventilation. It can help shield them from accidents in high-traffic areas, tripping hazards, spills, and dirt buildup.
Furthermore, server racks can help keep the hardware safe by organising it in an accessible area that facilitates management and cleaning. They also limit the exposure to regular wear and tear in the office space.
Another critical consideration is to plan for the future when installing your servers. When selecting a rack mount, be sure there’s enough room to expand your hardware. Unless your office is small, having half-empty racks is preferred to tearing them down and re-designing them a few years down the line.
TIP #2 – SEPARATE YOUR SERVERS FROM YOUR MAIN working space
Depending on the type of servers you have, they can get quite noisy when in operation. On top of that, they can comprise valuable hardware. For this reason, you’ll want to separate them physically from the working premises. If you can’t afford a designated server room though, invest in secure rack mounts with integrated sound reduction where possible.
TIP #3 – look after your hardware!
Hardware maintenance plays a pivotal role in server management. Without dependable hardware, your productivity can, unfortunately, take a dive.
To avoid this scenario, you need to monitor the essential components of your server. These include:
- CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Your CPU is the core of your servers, performing all calculations for running programs. You need to constantly monitor it to prevent overuse. If it operates near 100% of its power, your team members can’t carry out additional tasks due to slowdowns. It may require chip upgrades or performance tuning to alleviate the stress.
- RAM (Random Access Memory) – This is the working memory of your server, as it runs faster than hard disks. The more RAM you have, the higher the performance of your device. Closely monitor its usage and add more memory when it gets close to its full capacity.
- Hard drive – The hard drive is the permanent storage of your servers. It saves your data and programs, but its performance can diminish with overuse. Proper hard disk management entails keeping track of the available space, deleting unnecessary files, installing new drives, or including cloud-based solutions.
TIP #4 – EMPLOY FREQUENT COOLING methods for your Servers
You expect your servers to perform fast, but the only way to ensure this is to provide optimal conditions. That being said, you should primarily focus on cooling the servers where possible. Excess heat can dramatically decrease their lifespan so the best practice for them is to make sure your cooling device operates outside your building.
Additionally, if you experience a power outage or central air conditioning doesn’t work at night time, you need a cooling solution that can run on backup power.
TIP #5 – Effectively maintain & MANAGE YOUR SOFTWARE
Software used for your server requires regular maintenance as well. The key is to perform regular updates and delete old software to enhance performance. Your servers will operate better, and there will be fewer vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit to access your network if you carry out regular software updates.
TIP #6 – neatly arrange SERVER wiring
The amount of wiring in your server setup can be overwhelming, especially if you have no technical experience. Sorting out the mess doesn’t only improve cleanliness, but it can also help boost the performance of your server viability for future upgrades.
Keep in mind that whenever you’re removing, rearranging, or installing your cables, label and group them neatly. Following these steps helps to prevent clutter and ensures your server wiring is arranged in the best way.
TIP #7 – employ security measures
As previously mentioned, servers can be susceptible to cyberattacks. That’s why it’s crucial to maintain a secure system at all times and have adequate systems in place to handle threats as they occur. Here’s what you should do:
- Install and update antivirus software.
- Use firewalls to prevent unauthorised traffic.
- Use robust access control software or sound password policies & instruct your users to change them regularly.
- Encrypt external networks & data storage.
- Incorporate SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools.
- Analyse and implement security logging measures to understand potential threats.
TIP #8 – regularly BACK UP YOUR DATA
The final part of robust server management is backing up your data regularly. After all, loss of information can be disastrous, harming your reputation and resulting in loss of customers.
Besides backing up server software and hardware, you should also have a backup for your power supply to prevent data losses during power outages. Moreover, you can integrate with various tools to expedite backups, recoveries, and status monitoring.
Look for software that covers both your IT architecture and operating system. It needs to work across systems and applications you currently have or plan on installing in the future. Additionally, it should diagnose server issues efficiently with powerful analytic capabilities. Here at IT Leaders, we have a range of backup system options to suit every sized business, including cloud backups. Get in touch with us today to discuss your data backup needs!
Do You Want To Ensure Optimal Server Management for Your Company?
Managing effective server operation involves several key considerations, from monitoring system temperatures to regular updates, software management and employing data backups. Even though this can be an arduous process, it’s integral to optimising your server performance and eliminating security concerns in the short and long term.
If you need help with optimum server management in your business, the IT Leaders team would love to help you! Contact us today and let’s discuss the best server and hosting options to suit your Gold Coast or Brisbane based business now!
