We all know it, maintenance is key in any organization for any product. It has to be planned and performed. When you are running Windows 2008 Server in your environment you need pay particular attention, and this article will mention steps that are important to remember in your maintenance plan
Maintenance of Windows 2008 Server
Any product without a maintenance plan, can never perform well. If you are running Windows 2008 Server domain infrastructure there has to be a schedule for this on your calendar. The following areas are where you need to focus your scheduled maintenance for best performance.
Monitoring of Event Viewers - I must admit it that for any major outbreaks or any issues that might arrive can be better understand in Event Viewer. There might be exceptions, but it's the first place you need to look for those events and find out the root cause of any problem that has occurred. You can filter out some specific events that you are looking for. A useful tool.
Disk Space - You should always monitor your disk space. My recommendations would be to keep 25% of free disk space of total drive. Proper allocation of page file should also be kept in mind as every page file committed brings an extra load on hard drive to process the information.
Disk Defragmentation - Whenever files that are deleted, created or modified hard drive fragmentation levels also increase and it decreases the overall server performance. You should always have this in your maintenance plan.
Chkdsk - A great utility that can help to remove cross linked files. If 2008 Server finds a problem it will run the tool and try to resolve the errors.
Backups - Make sure you have backups for all the application that are running in your environment and also have a restore plan to validate those backups.
Dcdiag - Running this command will help to find any issues that a domain controller is facing. This command has various tests for DNS, KCC, Replication, etc
Maintaining Checklists - Maintain a checklist for critical servers about the services and whether they are running. Antivirus updates really help so that we are not missing out on the latest information.
Use of Monitoring Tools - Use of tools for monitoring (i.e. Altiris, SCOM) can really help to monitor the server proactively and save the unwanted downtime
Monitoring Hardware - Various Vendors like IBM and Dell have tools for monitoring the hardware to let us know in case of failures. This can help as most of the hardware is redundant and failures may not be noticed.
Patches/Service Packs - Maintain a proper plan for installation of patches. Have test servers before deploying them to production servers, Also you can use some very good tools (i.e. Altiris Patch Management) module to automate your patch deployment.
Auditing - Very important is to audit the servers. Whether for Security permissions or administrators roles, it's very essential to have this in your policy.
Using of UPS System - You should be having UPS systems that provides redundant power to your servers in case the primary UPS fails. This needs to be tested periodically whether redundancy is operational or in case or if the primary UPS has malfunctioned.
Performance Monitor - Now this tool has been incorporated in Server Manager itself. Always set the counters for Memory, Processor. It will help when the server is really facing performance issues.
Windows Device Manager - Always look for the device manager and find out if all the drivers are properly installed and validate whether the capacity that is highlighted is proper (i.e. Memory, CPU etc.)
Server Hardening - Harden the server when you are putting the server in production. Prepare a document that guides you through the process (i.e. Which services should not be installed. Local user name passwords polices.) It can contain end numbers of pre-requisite based on companies policies.