In the world of IT, maintaining server uptime is a vital organizational priority and a huge factor in ensuring the stability of any business. Systems can only be utilized if there is consistent access and availability to them. And while you’ve likely taken precautions to prevent downtime, there is always room for improvement. There are several strategies you can utilize to increase uptime, and the advantages of doing so make an immediate impact.
An enhanced user experience, reliable security and
better customer service are all direct results of putting extra effort into perfecting your IT environment.
If you want to enjoy these benefits, here are six ways of improving server uptime so you can feel comfortable in knowing your servers are ready to perform around the clock.
Know Your Infrastructure Inside and Out
The first step to improving server uptime is having full visibility into the design of your infrastructure and how your tools/applications are set up. By pinpointing areas commonly susceptible to bugs or system failures, users can quickly react to issues and there will be less unwanted surprises.
From having background knowledge into a server’s health to knowing the possible ramifications of frequent updates, uptime is often achieved by simply being aware of the details that can make or break server performance (ex. server age, differences in
cloud providers/solutions, etc). Do your due diligence and be realistic about both the capabilities and limitations of your infrastructure.
Revise and Perfect Your Code
Most advice regarding uptime revolves around server efficiency. However, a major part of any server’s foundation lies in its coding. Systems should be built in a manner that enables users to spot anything faulty before making it into the next phase in your production pipeline.
Even the smallest errors can cause an entire system to fail and if your code isn’t flexible, it will be a large undertaking to fix the problem. Avoiding this scenario derives from a ‘coding 101’ lesson: don’t write lazy code just for the sake of saving time! Taking shortcuts will only come back to haunt you when any type of failure or overflow occur, so revise and perfect your code as necessary and you’ll be safer in the long-run.
Conduct Maintenance and Test System Reliability
Conducting regular maintenance should be a relatively painless task that automatically boosts the dependability of your servers.
A lot of this work can usually be automated, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks while still taking note of insights resulting from examination of daily performance. However, an even more proactive method of testing system reliability is by disrupting it on your own! Run tests that will hit your API with more traffic than expected and send requests which will result in system errors.
When this is done in a controlled setting, the system abuse should offer findings that make you more equipped to spot actual errors in real-time situations, thus preserving uptime.
Be Prepared for Growth
A common reason downtime occurs boils down to one word: scalability. Organizations who aren’t prepared for growth experience a mismanagement of resources, making it difficult for IT environments to fulfill expectations that may be unrealistic.
For this reason, it is always smart to set your server capacity limits at a higher rate in case there is need for extra bandwidth. Whether you work at a large enterprise or small-medium business, increased traffic hitting you at a moment’s notice is always a possibility.
In order to maintain and steadily improve uptime, having flexible options built into your servers is essential and becomes extremely valuable as the needs of the business evolve.
Have Backup Servers in Place
Most IT departments have some sort of backup system in place in case of any major data breaches or hacks. However, not all of them are built to withstand substantial spikes in activity, putting your goal of maintaining uptime at risk.
One surefire method of improving server uptime levels is creating a server failover solution, giving your systems the ability to transfer operations from failed components to backup components.
Implementing a failover solution is seamless in today’s modernized data center environment and it spreads the server load by providing data with alternative paths of exchange. By utilizing virtualized servers, developers can create duplicated servers that provide reliable backup in case a physical server crashes.
For a relatively cheap cost, virtual backups can be spun up and operate at a standard level of performance, ensuring the user experience is uninterrupted even when things go wrong.
Implement the Right Server Monitoring Solution
Ultimately, the best way of improving server uptime is implementing an IT monitoring solution with capabilities that fit the needs of your business and automates a lot of the heavy lifting work.
A robust server monitoring system tracks the uptime of servers via definable checks and alerts you to any failures or glaring performance issues. With easy access to server uptime information, you can properly analyze data and adjust as needed based on actionable insights.
The proper amount of oversight from a monitoring solution will save time, money, and provide you with peace of mind since there is a direct correlation between maintaining server uptime and the security of your infrastructure. If you want to achieve your uptime goals, being proactive and allocating resources to your monitoring efforts can be the initiative that makes all the difference.
Conclusion
Tracking and improving server uptime is not easy, especially doing so at scale during times of growth. But when organizations are at risk of losing millions of dollars during downtime, there must be a consistent effort in ensuring the highest level of uptime possible.
Every business has their own complexities, but all organizations can benefit from infrastructure knowledge, regular maintenance/testing, scalability, cloned backup servers and a powerful monitoring solution. By paying close attention to these areas, server uptime will improve and a trustworthy user experience can become a standout advantage for your organization.
Eric Bernsen is a Digital Marketing Executive at Opsview, an IT monitoring software company that ensures uptime, improves efficiency and enables IT teams to easily monitor complex, hybrid IT environments and critical business services.
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