How to optimise server performance

If you already own a business, you will know how important your server setup is to your day-to-day operations

If you’re a budding entrepreneur getting ready to put your idea into practice, it’s a lesson that you need to learn before you attempt to get up and running.

One thing is sure though, no matter how much future-proofing your server design takes into account, at some point, you will probably be looking at how to optimise performance to get the most benefits out of it.

Although you might think that an expensive hardware upgrade is the only way to achieve more, in fact, you might not have to lay out funds on more memory or a more powerful CPU.

Un-optimised

In reality, hardware upgrades can deliver only a temporary fix if your server is not optimised. Constant high loads might not mean that your current system is unable to cope, as over-usage is actually the root cause of many server problems.

Un-optimised website add-ons can be a drain on resources in the same way that badly coded applications or a simple spike in traffic can be.

As well as helping to avoid unnecessary pressures on budget expenditure, making sure that servers are optimised means that your business will also be more efficient in many other ways.

Optimising software

How you speed up your server will depend on the software that it is running as much as the capabilities of the hardware. For instance, Apache’s configuration can be tweaked to gain significant improvements, and the first step in the process is measuring the current performance of the server. Online tools can be used to make the process quite straightforward, and then you can change the directives in the configuration file.

Modular solutions

Another easy way to make sure that everything is always working at top speed is by taking a modular approach. Having a bespoke modular server room means that your own unique needs and requirements will have been taken into account from day one.

The obvious advantage of this is that any expected extra demand can be factored into performance capabilities, allowing you to have enough capacity in reserve to cover all eventualities.

When the day comes that even this is not enough and performance needs optimising further, a modular system makes any upgrades that are needed as simple and cost-effective as possible.

Take advice

Although optimising server performance is not the most difficult tech task, DIY tinkering with any critical function of the day-to-day running of your business should always be approached with great caution.

Thankfully, though, server specialists are always on hand to give you the best advice and provide solutions that can often be much less of a shock to your budget than you might expect.

The fact that significant increases in performance might not require any hardware upgrades at all means that it really is in your best interests to take a professional assessment into account before you make any decisions.

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda was Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2016 to 2018.

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