Although many businesses are moving to the cloud for their data storage and management requirements, lots of UK businesses still rely on in-house servers.

As with any machine you own, to ensure it’s running efficiently you need to manage and maintain it regularly. Just like you do with your car.

There are lots of benefits to looking after your in house servers. Especially if your servers are running business critical applications, emails, websites and data storage.

If your in house server is struggling, all of these IT functions will perform poorly too.

The good news is, there’s lots you can do to improve your server management:

SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE
Software used for your server requires regular maintenance, too. 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 cyber criminals
can exploit to access your network.

HARDWARE MAINTENANCE
It’s important to get to know the key components of your server. There are three main components of a server; the Hard Drive, RAM (Random Access Memory) and the CPU (Central Processing Unit).

CPU maintenance; this is the heart of the server and performs many tasks and calculations for running programs. Make sure you monitor it’s use. If it gets close to near 100% of it’s power, it will start to slow down. Meaning staff will find performing tasks frustratingly slow. Your can fine tune the performance of the CPU and also upgrade the chip which can reduce pressure.

Hard Drive maintenance; this is the storage competent of your server. It saves data and programs. To prevent performance drops caused by your hard drive, run it lean. Delete files you no longer need and keep a close eye on available space. Installing new drives can also help.

RAM maintenance;  Just as it’s described, RAM is the working memory of your server. Essentially, the more RAM you have the higher the performance of your device. Keep a close eye on it’s usage and add more memory as required.

EMPLOY FREQUENT COOLING
You expect your servers to perform fast, but the only way to ensure this is to provide optimal conditions.
That said, you should primarily focus on cooling the servers. Excess heat can dramatically decrease their lifespan.

ARRANGE THE WIRING NEATLY
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. Doing so helps prevent clutter.

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 losing your 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.

By following these steps, you’ll help elongate the life of your server and enjoy efficient performance throughout it’s life.

Our team of IT specialists are on hand if you need any help or advice on maintaining your in house server. Or if you’re ready to make the move to the cloud, we can help with that too.

Get in touch on 01392 796 779 or email us.