Liquid Web Servers are often business-critical infrastructure. Keeping your servers healthy is key to keeping your business healthy.
Ignoring your server’s performance comes with consequences. When small problems go unchecked, they can easily become big problems, causing server slowdowns, failures, and downtime. Depending on your business, unplanned downtime could be inconvenient, expensive, or downright catastrophic.
On the other hand, keeping your servers running smoothly has business benefits. Websites and applications that load faster are more likely to attract users and retain customers.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of server monitoring, different types of server monitoring tools, best practices for server monitoring, and more.
What are servers?
First things first — what is a server?
A server is a type of computer that provides services for other devices. Servers are the foundational infrastructure of the web, and they fulfill functions such as providing web hosting, managing network traffic, enabling user authentication, and more.
There are many kinds of servers: application servers, database servers, domain name system (DNS) servers, email servers, file servers, and web servers, to name a few.
What all servers have in common: They’re high-capacity, high-performance machines with fast processors, and they’re designed to operate continuously as the essential IT infrastructure they are.
Servers typically never get a break, which is why server monitoring is so important. Servers need to be managed carefully so they can provide services to other devices 24/7.
Server monitoring basics
What is server monitoring, exactly? It’s how we keep our servers healthy. Think of it like a person getting their annual checkup. The doctor will check their heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and perhaps do a blood draw — all to ensure that they can catch small problems and fix them before they turn into big ones.
Server monitoring has a similar function, except it’s continuous and ideally real time. Server monitoring tools will observe and measure your server’s key performance indicators (KPIs). These likely include:
- CPU usage – If CPU usage spikes frequently, this is likely slowing things down. Regularly overloading your CPU can cause memory problems or performance issues, eventually leading to a crash.
- Bandwidth – Your server monitoring tool should keep an eye on both inbound and outbound data transfers, identifying any bandwidth-hogging users.
- Disk usage – Your server will work best when it has plenty of disk space.
- Firewall activations – Since firewalls are designed to stop threats in real time, it’s helpful to know what’s being thrown at them.
- Network functioning – Are all devices across the network communicating effectively, or are there delays?
- Error rate – Are requests timing out?
- RAM – How’s the short-term memory holding up?
A server monitoring tool observes these metrics and sends notifications about any issues.
What types of servers can you monitor?
While all servers provide services to other devices, those services can take different forms. When monitoring your server, KPIs may vary accordingly. Here are a few examples:
- Application servers – These servers store and run a program that other computers use. You might want to measure response times and error rates and monitor user activity.
- Database servers – You could look at the number of connections to the database, monitor the input and output on the disk, and measure the time the server takes to execute commands.
- DNS servers – For these “phonebook” servers, KPIs include query response times and DNS errors.
- Email servers – You might want to monitor things like email delivery and bounce rates, whether mailboxes fill up, the effectiveness of spam filtering, and failed authentication attempts.
- File servers – Common KPIs are file access and transfer speed, disk space usage, user access and permissions, and error rate.
- Web servers – KPIs include number of active connections, CPU and memory usage, percentage of uptime and availability, and response time to requests.
Benefits of server monitoring
There are many benefits to server monitoring. For starters, you get a high-level view of your server’s health, which is essential to keeping the server functioning optimally. Server monitoring can also help you automate parts of server management, making your job easier. Additionally, it can:
- Save time – Instead of manually checking various KPIs, your server monitoring tool does it for you and alerts you to issues. Catching problems before they escalate can save countless hours of future hassle.
- Save money – Unplanned server downtime is expensive for many reasons, including the cost of getting things running again, plus maybe the cost of lost sales or lost customers. Proactive maintenance is a cost-saver.
- Boost customer satisfaction – Whatever type of server you’re managing, your customers depend on its speed, efficiency, and, most importantly, availability. Server monitoring helps you fulfill expectations and keep your customers happy.
- Improve information security – Server monitoring is a common denominator in server security best practices that can provide you with advance notice of a security breach or other types of cyber threats, so you can shore up vulnerabilities in advance.
- Inform data-driven decision-making – When you have more data on how your server is performing, you can make more informed decisions on your tech stack. That way, you can scale your business in the most cost-effective and impact-oriented way.
Types of server management systems
There are a few different types of server monitoring approaches, including agent-based monitoring and serverless or cloud-based monitoring. In the next few sections, we’ll explore the various solutions and the pros and cons of each.
Agent-based vs serverless monitoring
In an agent-based server monitoring system, you need to install a software agent on each one of your systems. Conversely, serverless monitoring uses a cloud-based approach, so you don’t need to install an agent.
Because you’re individually installing each agent, agent-based server monitoring gives you more granular control and greater flexibility around customization. Agent-based monitoring systems collect a lot of detail and do so in real time, even if the network connection goes down.
The downside here is a more complex configuration process. Additionally, because the software agent is installed directly on the server, it consumes server resources, which could potentially impact performance.
On the other hand, serverless monitoring collects data via the cloud. This means minimal overhead, no drain on your server’s resources, and ultimate scalability. Cloud-based solutions are typically simple to set up and highly cost-effective. But you have less control than with an agent-based solution.
SNMP server monitoring
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) server monitoring is a widely adopted network protocol designed to provide visibility into network infrastructure.
SNMP support is built into many types of networking devices and equipment, such as routers, switches, and firewalls, so many network monitoring tools rely on it.
The SNMP agent is installed on the networking device, where it gathers info on how the device is performing. The agent collects data on bandwidth usage, security breaches and more, then sends this information back to the SNMP manager, which is installed on a server.
SNMP server monitoring is great for getting a bird’s-eye view of the status of devices across the network and the health of the network overall.
Cloud-based server monitoring
Cloud-based server monitoring differs from agent-based in that there’s no on-premise infrastructure required. Data is collected and stored in the cloud, enabling you to effectively monitor your server from afar.
Typically, cloud-based server monitoring is quick and easy to set up. Data is aggregated in web-based dashboards for your review.
Because you don’t have to individually install software on your servers, a cloud-based server monitoring tool is more scalable. (Automatic updates are another plus.) Cloud-based server monitoring is typically cost-effective as well.
However, you won’t have the hands-on control provided by an individually installed software agent. So, you may have less ability to customize the configuration of your server monitoring.
Server management best practices
We’ve explored the benefits of server monitoring. Now, consider these serve management best practices, which can help you make the most of your server monitoring tool.
- Start with good documentation of your server configurations, processes, and monitoring data. This paper trail can help you troubleshoot, especially if you frequently onboard new team members.
- Use a comprehensive server monitoring tool. Your tool should provide detailed metrics on server health and performance, including CPU usage, disk space, RAM, network traffic, bandwidth, and firewall activity.
- Make regular backups and store them securely. A good backup can help you resolve any problem your server monitoring identifies.
- Manage user access carefully, applying security measures like strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Route alerts effectively so that when something goes wrong, they go to the right place and you can act on it promptly.
- Perform regular maintenance. Let updates run automatically. Set aside time to conduct routine maintenance tasks such as installing updates and security patches.
What to look for in a server monitoring tool
When it’s time to pick your server monitoring tool, here are a few things to keep in mind.
- Comprehensive data – Your server monitoring tool should collect data on all the relevant metrics. Remember KPIs like CPU usage, bandwidth, disk usage, firewall activity, network traffic and delays, and RAM.
- Customizable dashboard – How accessible, intuitive, and customizable is the dashboard? This is where you’ll view the data and reporting on your server’s health and performance.
- Integrations – How does the server monitoring tool integrate with the rest of your tech stack? More integration options can help you streamline processes and increase efficiency.
- Remote access – Are you able to resolve issues without making a trip to the server room?
- Real-time monitoring – Make sure you can get updates immediately with live data on the dashboard.
- Alerts – Ensure you can set up notifications across the channels you use, so you always know right away if there’s a problem.
Choosing the right server monitoring tool for your business
If your business relies on a server, then server monitoring is a must-have. As you choose a server monitoring tool, consider these factors:
- How many servers do you need to monitor? Is scalability important?
- Which KPIs will you monitor?
- Is agent-based or cloud-based most compatible with your existing infrastructure?
- Is hands-on technical support important? What are your expectations around customer service?
The right server monitoring tool will support your tech infrastructure and the health of your business.
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