When you have a website, which all businesses should these days, it goes without saying that your server is essential. Simply put, your server will store, process and deliver your website to anyone who is visiting your URL. So, without your server, your website wouldn’t be ‘live’ or visible to anyone who is trying to find your business online.
Whether you use a Shared Server, a Dedicated Server or a Virtual Private Server (VPS), it is incredibly important to ensure that you’re undertaking regular Website Server maintenance, in the same way you would carry out maintenance for your File Servers or your Remote Desktop Servers. You may find that if you have a managed hosting plan, your web hosting provider will take care of server maintenance for you, but this isn’t always the case. There is a high chance that if you’re not carrying out server maintenance yourself, it isn’t being undertaken at all.
Regular maintenance includes things such as; reviewing the server’s performance, identifying potential security risks and maintaining the backup system, and whilst it can be easy to forget about or overlook, all of this maintenance is important in its own right. Below we have looked into some of the main reasons why you should be undertaking regular server maintenance.
Prevent unexpected server downtime
Your server isn’t ‘bulletproof’, so to speak, and even when a web hosting provider claims that they will provide “100% uptime”, unexpected issues can still crop up every now and then which result in your website going offline. It goes without saying that any type of server failure can be incredibly inconvenient and the longer your website is down for, the more detrimental it will be to your business. This is especially relevant if the vast majority of your potential customers hear about your business online and communicate with you via your website.
Checking your server on a regular basis and carrying out some basic preventative maintenance will help to reduce server downtime and the hassle that unexpected failures can cause. This type of maintenance is vital to keeping your server running as expected and it will help to minimise any future downtime that you experience. When you keep a close eye on your server’s performance, you will also be able to fix any small problems before it’s too late and resolve any server issues before they cause your website to crash completely.
Ensure your website is performing as it should
Not only will your website suffer if your server fails, but it can also experience a number of issues if you’re not ensuring that your server is running at optimum performance. It is always important to ensure that your website has a positive user experience, after all, your website is often the first impression of your business. When your server isn’t running smoothly, it is likely that your website will be suffering and this will, in turn, be reflecting badly on your business and affecting your overall reputation.
Following a server maintenance plan and spending some time on maintenance will help you to ensure that your server is running at its top condition and that any visitors to your website are having the best possible experience. Your server will affect things such as the website page load speed which will lead to a high bounce rate and potential customers turning to your competitor’s websites instead. Continually monitoring your server and keeping on top of server maintenance will ensure that your website user experience is exactly what you want it to be.
Reduce the likelihood of backup issues
Generally speaking, every website should be backed up on a regular basis just in case something happens and a backup is an essential ‘safety blanket’ to have. Whilst backups will often happen automatically every week at a predetermined time, when there are underlying problems with your server, you run the risk of the backup not taking place as it should. This can result in a huge loss of data should your server fail, making it incredibly difficult for you to rebuild and reinstate your website quickly and easily.
Whether you use server maintenance services or carry out any required maintenance yourself, you can have peace of mind that no matter what happens, you will always have a secure copy of your data. Even though you carry out regular backups and have recovery plans in place with the hope that you will never need to use them, there is no predicting what will happen with your server, especially if you overlook regular maintenance, so it is essential to be prepared. Avoiding backup issues is reason enough to undertake essential maintenance.
Keep the server safe and secure
A lack of server maintenance can easily result in security breaches too. It is fair to say that the security of any online presence is paramount and your server should be protected by high-performance firewalls, however, not undertaking regular maintenance can leave your server vulnerable to attacks. Not all hosting plans will include things like automated security patching for any critical vulnerabilities, which provides security against important security issues in the operating system, giving hackers ample opportunity to get into your website.
As a business, you have a responsibility to protect the data of any website visitors and some simple server maintenance can help you to do so. Completing any required security updates and ensuring that there aren’t any issues with the security solutions you have in place is essential to keep your business’ data protected from hackers. Unfortunately, hackers can cause harm to your business in a number of ways, so staying ahead of them by detecting and fixing any anomalies and issues with your server is undeniably important.
Undertaking any required server maintenance
All in all, there really is no denying that servicer maintenance is something that shouldn’t be overlooked and if you don’t have a managed hosting plan, it is absolutely essential to ensure that you’re staying on top of any required maintenance. Of course, you always have the option to move over to a managed plan if this would be more convenient for you and this is something that we can help you with here at Catalyst2. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide a fast and friendly service, and we are always happy to go the extra mile to provide support, information and new solutions to our customers. Don’t worry, we won’t bamboozle you with technical jargon either, so don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Our Managed Hosting + plan is perfect for anyone who isn’t sure what is required in regards to server maintenance and who’d prefer an expert to take care of everything for them. In addition to providing everything that you’d expect from a managed hosting plan, from managing and backing up to securing and monitoring the server, this plan offers a number of other useful services. When you have our Managed Hosting + plan, we will provide proactive maintenance whereby we will monitor all aspects of your server to ensure that we’re addressing any issues before they impact your website or your customers. You will never have to worry about server maintenance again when you enlist our help with your website.
When you turn to us for your website hosting, you can have complete peace of mind knowing that we have a no-quibble 30-day money-back guarantee too and in the unlikely event that you’re unhappy, you can simply get in touch with our team. We know that reliable and well-supported service is rare online, but we can assure you that we will answer the phone day or night, and for this reason, we have become one of the most trusted names in UK hosting. You definitely won’t be disappointed when you turn to us for assistance with your website.
