So you have been in business for some time now and fortune has smiled upon you. You’re doing a brisk trade in your venture of choice, you have satisfied customers and it is showing in the increasing bulge in your pocket.
You have decided to take the next step and transform into a bigger entity in your market. You have all the commercial aspects figured out, you have a plan for the next 5 years printed on paper and all that remains is the infrastructure improvements that need to be done, which is a necessity if you want the whole scheme to be supported.
An integral part of improving your online presence should include knowing when, and whether or not, you should upgrade your business server. But when is the right time?
Let us have a look at a few indicators:
Lagging Response Times
Slowness is an obvious indicator of the dire straits you find yourself in. We live in times where even small businesses can afford to rent (or even own) super fast servers that have incredibly fast response times.
If your server takes too much time to do what it once used to do in a “jiffy” a while back, you’re in need of a new server.
You’re Running Out of … Everything
If the free disk space keeps shrinking and is right now just a sliver that is barely visible, it is time to get a new server. If you have used up all the empty slots for additional disk drives you should start browsing for a replacement server. If you have used up the slots for RAM, the same rule applies. If you can’t push the processor speed any further… well, you get the idea.
Software Don’t Like It
Every time you try to install new software you are either told straight out that your server is incompatible with it or you have to jump through hoops just to make its basic version work. This means your server is almost a relic.
Servers, like software, have limited lifetimes and when that time is up you need to move on. Similarly, new software packages are not only becoming more efficient, they are also getting more resource intensive. If you mean to keep up with your software versions you will need to keep one eye on your server’s capabilities – when it starts to falter you will need to move to a better one.
One Too Many Crashes
A business’ reputation depends on its reliability. If your clients have to face a crashed site one too many times, they will eventually go into the arms of your competitors.
Although 100% server up time can never be guaranteed, anything less than 95% should be deemed unacceptable. If your server keeps crashing every time someone sneezes too close to it, you will need to make a quick switch – and we’re not talking about antihistamine prescriptions.
Guarantee/Warranty Ran Out A While Ago
The warranty or guarantee for the server you own is an insurance against some major disasters, and if yours has expired you should either be ready to invest in some serious technical brainpower or go the cheaper way – buy a new server.
You Hear Sounds (Not in Your Head)
There are general sounds servers make when they are performing as they should. If you hear rattling and scratching sounds that won’t go away even after the tech guys have taken a look at it, it’s time to think about a new server.
Constant whirring and scratching sounds or those that sound like the server is fighting and straining to go faster while it is being held back, are usually signs of a corrupted hard disk that could fail at any moment. Make sure you take backups on a regular basis until you get your new server.
Your Maintenance Cost Is Rising
If the amount of money you’re spending on maintaining your server is rising it means more work is being done on it. As a server gets old, like any other machine, it needs more attention which means it will only keep costing you more.
Cut your losses early and move to a new server.
Backups Take Forever
If you start your weekly backup on Friday and it is still running when you come back in on Monday, you have serious issues with your server. You should, by now, know what to do.
You Have To Move To The Cloud
As your business grows, you will eventually become an international player. The best way to handle customers on a global scale is to move to the Cloud. Also, Cloud computing isn’t just the way forward for you as a business, but the future of client-server technology in general – you just won’t be able to avoid it for too long.
Cloud computing is here to stay and the sooner you adopt it, the better it will be for you. It will help with your growth as scalability, security and ease of configuration and/or management are some of the few features and advantages that come with it. Your life will simply become much easier by chucking out that old standalone server.
The next time you are passing by your server take some time to look into whether you are indeed in need of a new business server. Don’t be caught by surprise.
