If you running a website, it’s highly probable that you host it on one of the available server solutions – like a Linux VPS, a dedicated server, or something else.
Running a website, however, is not only associated with developing the website itself and filling it with new content, but it also involves a variety of other routine server management tasks, that cannot be omitted if you want your website to always work well, have maximum uptime, and be resistant to cyber-attacks.
However, there are ways of making your life easier and they are presented by different tools and methods that allow for automating your server management. Why is proper management of your server important and what benefits its automation can bring you? Let’s see.
Why server management matters?
Although a lack of management doesn’t mean that your server won’t function, server management determines how optimized your server will be.
Regular server management will mean that your resources will always be up-to-date and adapted to the newest challenges. Let’s have a look at some of the aspects that are determined by it:
System availability
A properly managed server is a server whose every component works in the right way. This contributes to how well your apps function and reduces the number of bugs that can cause your system to stop working properly.
Better performance
Many aspects of server management contribute to your website’s successful performance. This is achieved both by regular updates, patches, and bug fixes and by the automatic analysis of your website’s current performance and suggestions on how it can be improved. The more carefully server management is performed, the more of its performance potential is actualized.
Safety of your data
Your website consists of data that is stored at some particular place, a particular storage drive at a particular data center. However, due to human or technical error, the data or the drive itself can be damaged, leading to the loss of precious information. For this reason, one of the essential precautions for every website owner consists in performing regular backups of your website, in this or that form. Automation here can be helpful as well, making sure that your backups will be performed regularly without you even thinking about them.
Optimal security
The security side of server management is another essential aspect supported by regular server management.
Regular updates of the software that fix bugs that always occur and can be exploited as breaches in security, security patches, and firewall configuration are all necessary elements of server management that can be taken over by server automation tools.
What kind of server management automation tools are there?
Server management can be automated with the help of a wide selection of applications. Let’s have a quick look at what operating can be automated and what are the most common utilities of this kind.
- Configuration management tools: These tools can automate server configuration and deployment. They include such tools as Ansible, Chef, and Puppet.
- Monitoring and Alerting Tools: These tools can automate the monitoring and management of server performance, uptime, and health.
- They include such tools as Nagios, Zabbix, and Prometheus.
- Backup and Recovery Tools: These tools are responsible for automating backup and recovery of server data, applications, and configurations. They include such applications as Veeam, Acronis, and Commvault.
- Patch Management Tools: These tools can automate the installation of security patches and updates on servers. Some common ones include Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and WSUS.
- Virtualization Management Tools: These tools can automate the management of virtual servers. They include such solutions as VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V.
The advantages of server management tasks automation
The automation of server management tasks can bring a great number of benefits given that they save your time and guarantee that certain tasks will be done automatically.
Here are some of server automation advantages:
Reduced Workload for IT Teams
Regular server management tasks like server patching, configuration management, and software updates do take time, which is indeed a worthless resource. However, if you set up server management for these routines, your team will be able to focus on other things that are more closely related to what is special in your project. This way they can have more to do with application development, creating content, or promoting your project.
Increased efficiency
Although humans are smart and good at problem-solving and creativity, their resources are indeed limited and prone to making arbitrary mistakes and forgetting.
When a certain activity can be reduced to a sequence of repetitive operations, an automation tool can show off significantly more reliability. Giving a specific task to a computer program will make sure that this task will be done, and done as it is supposed to be, timely and quickly, excluding human error.
Cost
Automating server management tasks will reduce the number of human hours when it comes to server management. In this way, you can avoid hiring additional employees or outsourcing parts of your workflows.
And this is not to mention the minimization of potential revenue losses due to a lack of server management.
Improved security
One of the main goals of server management is regularly updating the security of the server, by updating the software and installing patches. By automating server management you get a guarantee that all these measures will be always up-to-date, so its protection from any cyber threats will be as high as possible.
Conclusion
Automating your server management tasks is an efficient way of simultaneously saving time, and costs, and making sure that all the necessary operations are performed on time. We hope that this article was enough for you to understand the essential benefits of server automation and we wish you to organize your server management in the most efficient and beneficial way. Stay tuned!
