Describing What I Do for Monthly Server Maintenance

I perform a monthly service for my clients to update their server products. Taking a few minutes, I wanted to document my process and describe the value of these services.

1. Update the Windows platform. Microsoft deploys its updates for the Windows platform on the 10th of the month. The Because I want time to verify that the updates sent out by Microsoft don’t cause a dramatic problem to the o/s and the services running on my client’s network, I will wait until the middle of the month to manually download and publish them to my client’s servers. Through a manual update, I can control the update process and reverse it if there was a critical failure.

2. Update software. Applications that are installed on servers require routine maintenance to address security and software bugs. Keeping these applications up to date prevents software problems from suspending the server.

3. Examine backups and backup logs. Routine examination of the backups allows an administrator to find shortcomings in the backup process. Files are the lifeblood of a business – sometimes, files are left open because of user or system processes. Being able to identify files that aren’t being covered on the regular backup allows a troubleshooting process to fix that problem.

4. Dump AV quarantines and anti-spam repositories. Routinely, administrators must dump at-risk files and email identified by anti-virus/anti-spam solutions. These repositories build up over time. Dumping them cleans up the hard drive and reduces the indexing the softwae does on these repositories, improving server performance.

5. Examine Security Logs. Although critical problems can be identified daily by emergencies which are shown in the system, security, and application logs, and acted upon immediately, routine investigation of the logs is just a normalization process for the administrator. Familiarizing yourself with normal baseline behaviors, minor issues, problems found in the daily operation allows the admin to target long term or systemic problems that plague the machine. And the problems that I find on one server can directly translate into remedies for all of my other customers.  That provides a better service to my clients.

6. Free Drive Space from Server. Drive space is important. If drive space runs out, the server will perform a critical stop. And drive space is related to system memory. Reducing the frequency of I/O (input/output) activity to the hard drive on a server improves overall performance. Improving space, cleaning up the allocation tables, checking for defragmentation needs… all improves I/O and overal system performance.

7. Database and Exchange compress and backup – Exchange log file purge. All databases, over time, become less efficient. This relates to the way they store and categorize data. There are certain system databases and, in particular, databases the reside on Windows products and services, that require some routine maintenance to achieve optimal performance. Using some native tools from Microsoft, I run compress and defragmentation operations on these databases to flush their log files, destroy old data permanently, and improve system performance.

8. Deploy updates to client machines. The Windows Small Business Server R2 platform can control the deployment of updates to client computers. Through a controlled, measured release of updates, we can make sure PC downtime is drawn to a minimum.

Broadly, along with daily reviews and status alerts, these are the main steps that I take to ensure long term system health every month. It’s one of the ways that I provide value to my clients by handling the routine stuff so that they don’t have to.

R