Many organizations use servers of all kinds – dedicated servers, virtual servers, cloud servers, and so on – in order to run their business. Having a server dedicated to your own business or application gives you a lot more freedom than just using someone else to manage the service for you. However, there are a few best practices to put into place when you have your own server in order to keep it running safely and optimally. Here are some of our recommendations:
- Control your login information
Just as it is important to control the username and password for your day-to-day internet usage, it is important to manage and control the login credentials for your server. This means using a unique password that is difficult to guess. In scenarios where there are multiple users, it is a good idea to make sure that appropriate users have access to the appropriate applications and tools – it doesn’t make a lot of sense to give someone in the Sales department Root access to a server they use to store files, and a lot of bad things can happen if that user doesn’t fully understand the rights they have to the server. It’s best to take control of these things to minimize the chances of something bad happening.
- Give your server a test drive before putting it into production
Here at Vault Networks, we are very proud of the servers that we help our clients use in their business. Whether it is an elastic vnCloud server or a customized dedicated private server, we build servers with our customer requirements in mind so that they can deliver the best experience possible to their own users. However, it is important to make sure that the server requested can meet your expectations before setting it loose to your customers. Stress test your server and fully understand how it works before putting it into a production environment – if you miscalculated how much RAM is required, it’s better to learn about that when you are first testing the server as opposed to when customers are giving you complaints because application performance is slow!
- Understand the Importance of Network and Power Redundancy
Vault Networks prides itself on an enterprise-class network can is designed with redundancy and performance in mind. We built our network with multiple backbone providers so that a failure from a single provider wouldn’t impact our client base. Our power infrastructure is equally diverse, and we have redundant power connectivity all the way up to our backup generator. This is very important, and it is a big difference between hosting your services with us as opposed to placing a server in the office.
- Backups are Vital
Having backups for all of your data is very important in preventing some serious misfortune from befalling your company. As a best practice, there should be 3 copies of your data available at all times, with at least one of those copies stored offsite – preferably in a different region. At Vault Networks, we offer a backup service for all of our clients, and for customers that need an off-site location, we have two backup facilities available – one in Atlanta, and one in Miami.
Hopefully, these tips help you to better manage your server infrastructure with us. If you do not currently have services with us, we would love to have you as a part of our network. To learn more about our dedicated private servers or our vnCloud platform, please reach out to us by calling (305) 735-8098 option 2 or by emailing sales@vaultnetworks.com.
