Network monitoring is highly required in today’s hectic digital realm. It has to be both fast and highly effective. You need to be aware of how your network is performing. Yes, even if your company is small, you still need to be assured that the best IT Company is monitoring your network.
Network monitoring is a lifeline component of your company and its success. The servers act as the epicenter of your IT realm. Thus, if the heart of your IT is hit hard, it may stop functioning, and you may take huge losses. This article analyzes the must-haves for server monitoring and the importance of it.
The Idea Behind Server Monitoring
Are you aware of the concept behind monitoring your servers? Well, server monitoring refers to the regular collection and analysis of data to make sure that the servers perform as expected. Indeed, this helps learn that the servers are offering their intended functions. The data utilized for monitoring the servers incorporate network connectivity, key performance indicators, and application availability.
For instance, you will examine the following if you monitor a windows file server: Log File monitoring, network share availability, server operating system (which encompasses the memory, CPU, network and disk performance metrics), and event log monitoring. Therefore, the data from each of the categories mentioned earlier are well-analyzed to put any server slowdowns or even possible outages at bay. However, how the data points are chosen and analyzed varies concerning the server and its core functionalities. Besides, the method of general data collection and how it is evaluated remains consistent no matter the server functions or the operating system.
Is There A Need For Server Monitoring Automation?
The more the IT infrastructure becomes more complex, denser, and dispersed, server monitoring becomes more complicated. Often, there arises large quantities of data that need to be analyzed quickly, a task that may not be easily achieved using manual tactics. Thus, there is a need for automation to meet the objectives of server monitoring in real-time. Therefore, the IP support staff will spend most of its time and resources on advancing high-value initiatives. Indeed, there is no need to chase down server issues that could be avoided with the automation of server monitoring.
Memory
Did you know that you can set RAM thresholds that, when reached, will give you an alert? Yes, when RAM utilization reaches the pre-set levels, you will get notified. This applies to both Linux and windows. However, in Linux, you can apply the option to include both buffer and cache memory or not. Thus, once you get notified that your RAM is being consumed too fast, you will have to prevent your machine from malfunctioning.
Disk/IO
Disk I/O monitoring lets you keep in check all ‘read and write operations’ of disks on your computer. It also helps in setting thresholds that allow you to get alerts when the metrics shared below to reach a particular level; Total Reads per second, writes per second, the number of requests on the disk during the performance data collection, and also a busy time. Busy time refers to the time elapsed, in percentage when the disk was busy servicing write or even read requests.
Bandwidth
If you monitor the bandwidth of your servers, you will get alerts on your network interface. Bandwidth monitoring sets thresholds that allow you to receive signals when critical levels of the following metrics are reached: Received error packets, output traffic speed (B/sec), number of sent error packets, input traffic speed (B/sec) and received dropped packets.
If you do not monitor bandwidth, you may soon experience service slowdowns. You may also experience degradation caused by bandwidth bottlenecks. Thus, you must think about it because it is one of the components that must be monitored. Bandwidth monitoring lets you keep the performance of your network in check. That way, you will actively manage the network’s performance, and you will be happy to serve your customers without delays.
Drive
You can monitor your computer drive so that when certain utilization levels are reached, you can get an alert. Indeed, server disk space is a crucial resource that must be monitored throughout. When it falls below the set level, you will start to experience downtime and errors and may even lose data. But if you do monitor your server disk space, you can take appropriate actions once you are notified that it is about to drop to unacceptable levels.
CPU Monitoring
The ability to manage an online business will depend on the processing power of your machine. Thus, it should always be performing at its most efficient levels. It does not matter it is your host’s or your hardware; it must be running at its most efficient levels. You can set thresholds that, when reached, you will be notified. That way, you will know when to invest in some maintenance to improve its performance. For example, when you get an alert, you will know which tasks it can handle. If it can’t manage lengthy tasks, you will only command it to handle the short tasks.
Wrap up
As you have explored, there are various aspects of your server that need to be monitored. The drive of your computer has to be monitored. That way, you will know when it is not working properly. If you do not get alerts about the pre-set levels, you will experience downtime, errors, and you may lose data. Memory is yet another particular that must be monitored. You will keep your machine working excellently if you know how memory is getting utilized. CPU must also be monitored. This will help maintain high levels of performance.
Ideally, the alerts will help you take the necessary actions to keep it functioning properly. Just make sure they are being monitored all through. Do not wait until you experience technical issues to make calls to IT experts. Reach out now to get help on how to have them monitored.
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
