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If you have or intend to have a dedicated server or VPS, among all that you have to define, a mandatory aspect is its administration.
Do it yourself or hand it over to the hosting company?
The decision, which may seem simple to some, actually involves a number of points to consider and that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
What is VPS or Dedicated Server Administration?
The administration of a server, be it a VPS or a dedicated one, is characterized by the set of frequent, periodic and necessary actions to keep it running, with adequate performance and within good security standards.
This possible definition of what it means to manage a server is somewhat vague, but at the same time it has important assumptions, especially because of the words “performance” and “security”. But contain your possible anxiety about it, as it is not yet the time to talk about these two factors.
Before that, it is necessary to approach what comprises the administration, in terms of procedures.
What procedures are done in the administration of a server?
The procedures for administering a server are not very different from administering a personal computer, at least in terms of what needs to be done, but they vary greatly in form, complexity and scope.
In other words, it is necessary to carry out actions aimed at the following objectives:
- Updates – promote various updates, such as the operating system, the control panel, services (web server, email, FTP, database, etc.);
- Cleaning – removal of content that is generated as a result of use, such as operating system and service logs, cache files, temporary files, e-mail queue (mail queue), etc.;
- Installations – installation of new services, libraries, software and applications, etc.;
- Configurations – making configurations, as well as adjustments or changes to existing ones, to meet certain demands, improve performance and security;
- Analysis – analysis of the status of services, operating system logs and services, traffic and accesses regarding legitimacy (eg prevention and mitigation of attacks and intrusions), email flow (eg SPAM prevention and mitigation and phishing);
- Backup – scheduling and monitoring of backup routines, as well as the content that is submitted and eventual restoration;
- Scheduling – creation and maintenance of scheduled tasks (cron jobs), periodic preventive and corrective maintenance routines, etc.
Therefore, depending on the use that some of us make of our computers, at some point we have actions that are similar in purpose, but which can be quite different in the way they are done.
This is because in most modern operating systems, there is a high degree of automation, essentially so that laymen, who are the vast majority, do not have to worry about how to do it. Due to this extreme automation, many users are not even aware of what is happening.
They only read – not always – the alerts and allow the system to take care of everything.
But in the case of a hosting server, although some level of automation is also possible, one of its characteristics is to allow a very high degree of customization, flexibility and availability, whose price is in making choices and at least starting the respective processes manually or in the case of scheduled tasks, define them and structure them for execution.
A personal computer, as the name suggests, serves one person or user. A server, on the other hand, usually serves hundreds or thousands.
What is not part of server administration?
There is an important set of actions, which do not correspond to the administration of a server, such as:
- Website – everything that is closely linked to the functioning of the CMS or the website development platform, such as installing and updating plugins, themes and content;
- E-mail – creation and maintenance of e-mail accounts, filters, cleaning messages, managing folders and the space they occupy, etc.;
- Intranet – everything that is eventually part of the company’s intranet;
- Systems – systems that are not typical and essential for the functioning of a website hosting server.
Therefore, everything that is inside the user’s account is usually the customer’s responsibility to manage.
Server administration with a focus on performance and security
As we said, the main goals of server administration is to extract maximum performance and provide a secure environment.
However, both goals do not depend solely on an effective set of actions by the administrator.
When it comes to performance, both operating system and services are naturally configured in such a way that only essential processes are executed and that they do not overload the processors, that the memory allocation is as minimal as possible, that the reading and writing on disk is optimized via a caching system, for example, and that data traffic does not consume all the bandwidth.
Even so, it is possible that performance is not what is expected or desired, if intranet applications or website visits exert a demand above that supported by the server configurations.
It’s analogous to buying an entry-level notebook and wanting to run fancy games or a video editing application.
The same applies when it comes to security. You can create a good set of rules for the firewall, configure ModSecurity and a wide range of security measures, but the user does not behave accordingly, such as installing a free theme without origin in the site’s CMS or using weak passwords, for example.
It consists of the same type of error as those who believe that they can access any type of website, install pirated software and not pay attention to what they receive by email, just because they have antivirus software installed and believe that it is capable of stopping any malware and threats from the digital world.
How does server administration work by the hosting company?
It is necessary to keep in mind that there are particularities regarding this type of service, depending on the hosting company. There can and should be important differences from one company to another, but in general, there are two modalities:
- On demand – that is, when there is demand or need and in these cases, support is activated requesting technical intervention and the necessary procedures. It is a common model in cases where the use made is basic and generates only sporadic interventions. Usually, it is charged per technical hour of labor or per procedure;
- Permanent – in the permanent modality, it is paid monthly or for a period (quarterly, half-yearly, etc.)
It is worth noting that in cases of permanent administration, it is common to have two or three different plans with the desired level of administration.
Thus, you can have basic, intermediate and advanced administration, or other nomenclatures depending on the hosting.
This differentiation exists because the administration routine involves different sets of actions that also demand different levels of technical knowledge and dedication of time on the part of the administrator.
It is essential that you seek information from your hosting, regarding the set of support involved in each administration level, to know the type of coverage you have.
When to hire hosting administration?
Once it is very clear what the administration of a server consists of, most should be able to decide when they are able to carry out the administration themselves or should delegate to hosting.
However, if you still have doubts, below we provide a checklist of what to consider for the decision:
- Technical knowledge – the main point to be considered is the technical knowledge available to the person in the company who will be responsible for the account. Knowledge of Linux, command line, web services, firewall, among others, is essential;
- Time – even in cases where there is the necessary know-how, sometimes the time of the person in charge is too expensive to dedicate it to the administration, being more advantageous to hand the task over to the hosting;
- Experience – even some people with knowledge and willingness to learn, are not successful in managing a server, because they lack the experience with the particularities that the job requires. As we said, it’s quite different to manage your own PC and a server;
- Security – not just security related to the server environment, but due to the lack of expertise, time to do it and specific knowledge, making sure that everything that needs to be done is being done;
- Availability – especially in cases of the permanent model, the time required for interventions is shorter, in addition to the fact that when having a specialized professional, the time consumed is also less, increasing the availability of the service;
- Frequency and demand – the more demands there are and they are frequent, such as installations, configurations, maintenance, the more justifiable it is to opt for this service provision.
Conclusion
Deciding to whom to hand over the administration of a server is essential and depends on the necessary actions, technical requirements, security and availability.
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