Website administrator’s guide to server maintenance

Website servers are powerful computer systems that play a crucial role in running your website.

They store and send data from webpages — working round-the-clock and processing thousands of requests every second. And like any other system, servers also need regular upkeep to keep running efficiently. 

Without regular server maintenance, your website might face hardware and software glitches. These could lead to extended downtime, costing you thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

According to Uptime Institute, 45 percent of website outages in 2022 cost between $100,000 and $1 million.

However, these issues are preventable if you follow the right practices for server maintenance.

This guide talks all about server maintenance, its importance, and the best practices you need to follow to keep your web servers in the best shape.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• What is server maintenance?
• Why is server maintenance important?
• How frequently should you maintain the servers?
• Server maintenance best practices
• Final thoughts: Server maintenance best practices for website administrators

Maintaining a website server not only involves fixing immediate issues but also taking measures to avoid or minimize the effects of any issues in the future through preventive maintenance.

Why is server maintenance important?

You might constantly update content or optimize page load time to enhance your website, but if your server fails, then the website won’t perform as expected.

To ensure the servers perform well, you need to maintain them regularly. With regular maintenance, you get the following benefits.

Reduced downtime

Unplanned downtimes are a major risk to any business. They cause revenue and data loss and might also damage your business’s reputation if your website is down for too long. However, according to LogicMonitor’s survey, 51 percent of outages are preventable. 

With a server maintenance plan, you can reduce the frequency and duration of unplanned downtimes by identifying and addressing avoidable issues beforehand. 

Having a plan will also help you design a protocol to prevent the occurrence of common problems such as damaged hardware or outdated software.

Website data protection

As servers store most of the website data, protecting them from data breaches and theft is a must. If your server security measures are outdated, they might not be equipped to handle new types of malware and ransomware attacks, which puts your data at risk. 

To protect your data and avoid any potential security risks, you need to periodically update system security software and fix data vulnerabilities through server maintenance.

Cost savings

Website downtimes are costly, even if they last a few minutes.

When your website is down, you directly lose revenue due to missed customer orders and sales for that duration. It also leads to indirect losses in the form of customer dissatisfaction and opportunity costs. 

Moreover, identifying and fixing the issue immediately also adds to the cost of downtime. With regular maintenance, you can avoid major downtimes and save a significant amount of revenue.

Customer retention

You can offer the best quality products or great discounts, but even loyal customers might refrain from ordering from your business if they encounter frequent server failures. 

A server maintenance plan improves the user experience of your website, boosts uptime, and allows customers to place orders any time they want. This is especially important for ecommerce businesses whose revenue depends on their websites.

Now that you understand the importance of server management, let’s see how often you need to maintain the servers.

How frequently should you maintain the servers?

Server maintenance includes various tasks that address hardware and software issues, involve quality checks, and ensure the overall well-being of the servers. 

Each task requires a different frequency depending on the current server health and the risk level of the issue. In general, you need to perform these tasks to have a high level of server efficiency.

Most of the server maintenance tasks could be performed daily to ensure optimal server health. However, this may not be feasible, as these tasks are often time-consuming and require considerable resources.

Following the above plan helps you keep server maintenance within a budget without compromising on server health. 

In addition to frequently performing maintenance on your server, you also need to follow some server management best practices to keep your website running with minimal downtime.

Server maintenance best practices

As server maintenance involves multiple tasks, keeping track of everything can be difficult. 

To make your job easier, we’ve put together a server maintenance checklist to make sure you cover all the necessary areas.

1. Ensure daily data backup

In 2023, global companies lost $4.45 million in total due to data breaches alone. If you want to protect your servers and resume business despite a data compromise, one of the best ways to do it is to back up website data every day. 

There are a couple of ways to backup and store data. You can use:

• Local backups like hard drives and flash drives to store small amounts of data.
• Remote backups such as the cloud for large backups.

In addition to daily backups, you also need weekly and monthly backups to ensure all data is stored safely.

2. Monitor server performance

Servers have a maximum work capacity beyond which they cannot perform efficiently. While you may not encounter this issue with new servers, it’s best to monitor server performance in real-time and optimize your workload accordingly.

Here are a few metrics you can use to analyze your server’s health:

• CPU usage
• Uptime
• Requests per second
• Average response time
• Peak response time
• Network bandwidth
• Error rate

A server can occasionally handle a heavy workload. However, if the workload often exceeds the server’s limits or if the server’s performance is affected, it’s time to expand your server’s capacity.

3. Update security software regularly

Outdated software, plugins, or a content management system (CMS) can make your website more prone to cybersecurity breaches. 

According to Patchstack’s report, 42 percent of WordPress websites have at least one vulnerable plugin or piece of software installed. However, most of these vulnerabilities are identified and patched by the respective developers in subsequent application updates. 

By updating the software on your server regularly, you not only resolve bugs and patch vulnerabilities but also keep your server prepared for new types of security risks.

4. Keep disk usage within limits

It’s easy to run out of disk space with regular backups, especially if you’re using local hardware. To ensure sufficient hard disk space for daily backups, use different types of server backups, such as:

• Full backup: Copying and storing all available data, regardless of changes.
• Incremental backup: Copying only the data that has changed since the previous backup.
• Differential backup: Copying only the data that has changed since the last full backup.

Full backups are essential. But backing up all your data every day is time-consuming and exhausts a lot of resources. Instead, it’s best to use incremental or differential backups for day-to-day data protection and switch to full backups periodically.

In addition to backups, regularly go through old data and delete files that are unnecessary. Consider moving old backups to cloud storage to free up disk space for daily data requirements.

5. Choose a reliable hosting provider

If you’ve outsourced website hosting to a managed hosting provider, then they will also handle server management. That means your website’s uptime and user experience are the responsibility of your hosting company.

A good hosting provider like Liquid Web will ensure that the servers are well-maintained with regular software updates, scaling, and even providing expert support when required. Your website will have reliable and secure servers without the hassle of additional maintenance.

6. Pay attention to hardware upkeep

While updating and maintaining software is essential, hardware upkeep is also equally important.

Check these factors for proper server hardware upkeep:

• Ensure uninterrupted power supply to handle server workload.
• Inspect server parts to check for physical damage such as wear and tear, rust, and breakage.
• Use quality replacements for internal parts.
• Ensure that the server room is clean and free from dust, humidity, and pests.
• Maintain server room temperature and provide proper ventilation to prevent overheating.

7. Don’t neglect preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance practices are one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to maintain server health. By doing routine preventive maintenance, you can identify and fix issues before they are caused — saving time, money, and resources.

Some preventive measures for server management include:

• Keeping all software and operating systems updated.
• Testing backups regularly by restoring them to test servers.
• Investing in high-quality firewalls and security software.
• Restricting data access to authorized user accounts only.
• Using strong login credentials and changing passwords regularly.
• Checking system parts for visible damage to reduce hardware errors.

In addition, have a disaster recovery plan for server downtimes and train your staff to handle servers in case of unexpected issues.

Final thoughts: Server maintenance best practices for website administrators

Regular server maintenance ensures that your website runs smoothly with minimal downtime. However, managing all the server maintenance processes, along with other business tasks, can be difficult.

That’s why you need a hosting provider who does the heavy lifting for you, monitoring your server and ensuring that it’s well-maintained.

At Liquid Web, all of our hosting plans come with 24/7 support to immediately resolve your server issues.

Have server problems? With expert support from Liquid Web, you’ll get more than a reply, you’ll get a solution.

Browse our array of hosting plans to get started today.