Four of the Most Troublesome Server Problems

                As any large corporation can ensure you, the longer a server is down the more profit is lost. For large corporations which lean heavily on their IT infrastructure, if a primary server array falls off the grid they stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost sales, employee downtime, and resulting stock drops. While you may not be at that level with your current server configuration, there certainly is something to be said about protecting yourself from server failure. Server problems will manifest larger problems within your business unless they are handled quickly and concisely. Don’t know what you ought to be looking out for? No problem. Here are four of the most troublesome server problems, along with a few helpful hints regarding each.

Hard Disc Usage

Your hard drive is among the most important components within your server. All of your important business data, from invoices, product locations, client data, employee data, backups, etc. will be stored on your server’s hard drive. Consequently, backups are always a good idea. But even if you do have your data backed up regularly on a secondary drive, unless you have a redundant option a drive failure will cause a considerable amount of downtime. Look out for sudden increases in logs, warnings that your system is running out of storage (especially if the graded capacity isn’t reached), unexpected data loss or directory errors, or even unexpected noises.

Memory

Your server’s RAM is what provides the processor with ample “working space” making for speedy and efficient multitasking. System memory is especially important regarding servers, as these machines are tasked with a great deal of operations at once. Memory is most often replaced rather than fixed. If you notice that your processes are bogging down or running excessively, or if the CPU usage spikes suddenly, it’s likely that you may have a RAM failure.

Server Cooling System

Your server ought to have a temperature gauge, either a physical model which monitors the core temperature or an electronic thermometer with a peripheral display. If you notice that your server’s temperature is exceeding working bounds, chances are your fan or liquid cooling system is failing. As the internal temperature rises, you run the risk of frying your motherboard or damaging the components of your processor and memory. Oftentimes, this can be solved by performing physical maintenance on the fan or by adding a second fan to the assembly.

Power Supplies

The power supply is perhaps the most fundamental component of your server. Unfortunately, power supplies often fail without warning. Always check to make sure that all connections are secured before assuming the power supply has failed. Many people opt to instead have redundant power supplies. I keep an extra 300-1848 power supply on hand should my current supply fail. This effectively minimizes potential down time due to a server failure.