With a lot of work going on in the background, it is easy for small businesses to lose sight of their own metrics. To keep track of these metrics, IT staff must manually check the status of the servers constantly. However, that does not scale well or lead to optimal testing results.
Why is an Automated Server Checking Tool Necessary?
An automated server checking tool can playback a predefined and pre-recorded server analysis, allowing you to compare results and accurately report successes and failures. Once an automatic check is created, IT teams will only have to look at the server if there’s an alert.
Before we get into the benefits of automating your checks, you need software to monitor it.
With AWS monitoring services, you can check the status of your servers without stressing yourself out or spending too much time doing it. This allows you to focus on other aspects of your business, like watching useful metrics found in this AWS monitoring best practices post.
Why You Should Use Automation Software to Check Your Servers
Once you scale, your business will use hundreds of microservers in a microservice. Manual upkeep could take you several minutes or hours, making automation necessary because:
1. Automated Server Checkers Saves Time
When it comes to checking a server for downtime, a 2-minute interval is the best option. However, during traffic spikes over the holiday period, you’ll have to be even more diligent. You may have to switch to a 1-minute interval, but that won’t be possible with manual checks.
2. Automated Server Checkers Saves Money
If your company’s IT staff is only checking its servers all day, they won’t have much time for anything else. Not only are you spending money from decreased productivity, but creating a manual server test over and over again is incredibly costly and time-consuming.
3. Automated Server Checks Increase Coverage
Manual checks are great for telling you something is wrong, but they can’t explain exactly how to fix your problem. If multiple servers end up in the red, each with its own separate problem, IT will spend its time-solving issues. Automatic checking software will quickly find a solution.
4. Automated Server Checks Improves Accuracy
While IT professionals are good at what they do, they aren’t magicians. They may think a server issue arose from a specific problem, only to find that their solution didn’t put it back online. With an automated server checker, you’ll understand the problem and its solution the first time.
5. Automated Server Checkers are Reliable
Humans need breaks, but software will always stay online and functional. If your IT staff is away on lunch, your automated server checker can notify them when a problem occurs. With the use of an integrated app, IT will have access to your servers on off-hours, weekends, or holidays.
6. Automated Server Checkers are Secure
AWS’s first-party monitoring tools like CloudTrail, CloudWatch, Certificate Manager, and EC2 Dashboard ensure that your server’s security is up to snuff. Without these tools, you leave your business and client information open to hackers, which could damage your reputation.
7. Automated Server Checkers Excel in Integration
Your IT staff may use NetApp Cloud Insights, SolarWinds AppOptics, or Zenoss ZenPack, but an AWS can integrate these tools under one application. Now, you don’t have to check several apps at once while also maintaining and checking your servers, saving you even more time.
8. Automation Does What Manual Checks Can’t
Unless you have one IT staff member for each server, it’s impossible for your business to solely rely on manual checks. Automation software can act as an army of employees whose sole purpose is to ensure your company suffers from 0 downtime for the benefit of your customers.
