As time goes by and your company continues to grow, your server will start to show signs that it is coming to an end. It is very important to take these signs seriously, and act, rather than do nothing until it causes you expensive downtime. If your system is experiencing any of the following seven (7) signs, it is time to consider upgrading your server.
It is slow- When your server starts to crawl, it is time for an upgrade. When you are at 80% CPU usage or greater, then you need to start considering an upgrade. As your server slows down, that means less productive employees. How much productivity can you afford to lose?
It is making noise- As a server gets older, a very obvious sign that an upgrade is needed is the amount of noise it is making. Your fan drive and hard drive will become noisier as they age. This indicates that your server is getting closer to failure. Computers are like cars, they only have so much mileage before they start to fall apart.
It is no longer under warranty- Software and hardware support normally stops after three years, and when the manufacturers stop supporting, it probably means it is time for an upgrade. If something goes wrong from that point on, the cost of repairs for hardware and software will start coming out of your pocket.
There is no more room- If your software requirements start to exceed the specifications for the server, you should consider an upgrade sooner rather than later. Do not think of your space and memory needs in the short term, but plan for the long term, and how much your business may grow in the coming years. Planning is very critical. You need to know if you will be adding more staff or upgrading software in the future. If your server is struggling to handle the load now, will it be able to in the future?
It seizes up- If your server freezes up on a regular basis, that is another sign that your server is reaching its limits. You will want to upgrade your server before it is too late. Timing this is difficult. Having monitoring tools in place that report on the health of the network will allow you to catch this sign earlier and proactively handle the situation.
You are wasting too much time- If you are spending too much time fixing server issues, it is time for an upgrade. Your server should run smoothly, and you should not have to spend time throughout your busy day dealing with issues constantly. Think of how you could better spend that time during the day improving other areas.
IT CRASHES- We hope you do not wait until this happens to upgrade your server, because the downtime will be very expensive. To avoid this expense, you can implement a backup solution that gets you up and running quickly, have remote monitoring in place for more accurate warnings, and pay attention to the warnings above, and upgrade.
These are just some of the signs that it is time for a server upgrade, although they may not always be obvious. If you think it is time to upgrade a server, or you would like to have a professional take a look please contact River Run Computers and we will be able to help.
Topics
Share this article