Server management is the process of managing or maintaining your servers for maximum uptime, Whether it be a Linux, Windows, Solaris or a Unix box. When you buy a fully managed server purchased from your data-center or your web hosting provider, then the respective data-center or hosting company is responsible for some or all server management tasks that needs to be run on your server. Most of the companies only sell servers and doesn’t provide any server management service. If your server is not under the fully managed plan then you are the person incharge/responsible for maintaining it and handling all the server management tasks on the server.
You could also think of hiring an inhouse team to do the server management tasks which is going to be very expensive or you canfind a suitable & ideal outsourced server management company to whom you could outsource the server management process of your server. Make sure that you check with their SLA – service level agreement and also have an NDA – Non Disclosure Agreement.
Not every company of person uses the same set of softwares and services on their server. So there is no clearly accepted or defined terms of exactly what is included when your server is under the fully managed server management plan but when discussing about the server management services. So you should make a list of services that you want support for and make it clear with the server management company before signing up with them. For e.g Your server uses Nginx, PHP & MySQL. So check this first with the management company that they support installation, setup and configuration of all the softwares. As most company support Apache but not every company support nginx. So you are going to be in very big trouble if the company doesn’t support nginx.
Also it’s better to go with the company that either support money back guarantee or it would be even better if they provide a free or paid trail at a very small fees. Because most companies never refund your money mentioning some condition in their SLA.
Some of the outsourced server management companies provide exclusive server support services for Windows and Linux server owners, dedicated server owners, co-locaters and end users which also ensures that they take the responsibility of server management, and server security along with server monitoring.
Below are some task examples that are covered in outsourced server management plan.
Generic Server Management Tasks
- Software Installation/Upgrades
- Apache/PHP module isntallation
- Apache Optimization
- PHP Optimization
- Control Panel installation and configuration
- Installing Spam Controllers
- Installing Anti-Viruses
- Mail server and Apache Tweaks
- Third party software installations
- Trouble shooting
- Quick restoration after server compromises
- Server setup
- Server Migration and OS reload
- Reporting Hardware failures in timely manner
- Backups configuration
- 24x7x365 Server Monitoring
- OS upgrades
- Customizing web based Applications
- DDOS Attack Mitigation
- Tomcat Installation/Management
- Securing /tmp /dev/shm & /var/tmp
- Kernel tweaking/up gradation
- Installation and configuration of Linux daemons
- Mail Server Setup for Office network.
- Pro-active Support
- Server Migrations
- Control panel upgrade and patching
- Firewall installations, Tuning and maintenance
Server Security :
- SSH hardening
- Installing & Configuring Mod_security
- Installing Anti-rootkit software
- Exim, Qmail and Sendmail tweaks
- Installing & Configuring Mod_evasive
- Anti-spam/anti-virus software installations
- User/Password security
- Sysctl security and configuration
- Applying patches to server software to avoid any eventualities
- /tmp hardening
- Socket monitor installation & Configuration
- Firewall/Brute Force Detection Tool installation & Configuration [APF/BFD]
- Installing OS updates
- Apache tweaks
- MySQL tweaks
- Control Panel tweaks
- PHP security audit
- Kernel upgrades including grsecurity
Security Auditing :
- OS Updates
- Kernal Updates
- Control Panel Updates
- Periodic Security Audits
- Applying Security Patches
- Finding and removing root kits
- Finding Software glitches
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