How Do You Know When It’s Time To Upgrade Your Servers

Aging servers are a huge risk to company profitability and productivity. If you don’t proactively upgrade your servers regularly, you may find that you face unplanned downtime because your server breaks down out of the blue. It costs you time and money to fix a broken server and that downtime eats away at your profit margin. In fact, it can cost about $5,600 per minute according to estimates! 

The question is when to upgrade your servers. We typically advise our clients to upgrade their servers every three to five years. However, there are a lot of considerations that can mean this time period fluctuates. 

The bottom line is not to wait until it is too late. If your server starts acting up or has been doing so for a while, think about upgrading it. Otherwise, your business could suffer. 

Let’s take a look at the tell-tale signs indicating a server is in dire need of an upgrade. 

Signs That It Is Time To Upgrade Your Server 

There are a ton of different servers out there which means that it is difficult to give a single figure for a server’s lifespan. This factor changes depending on the hardware. Aside from scheduling a time to upgrade your server based on expert IT advice, you should also consider a change if your server displays one or more of the following signs. 

A Sudden and Noticeable Drop In Network Speed 

This is one of the surefire signs of a server that desperately needs upgrading. If your network tasks or connections are flagging and becoming slow, chances are that your server is struggling to process requests as well as it once did. 

Regular Crashes That Occur Out Of The Blue 

A lagging server tends to go hand in hand with frustrating downtime that appears to have no obvious cause. We don’t just mean a one-off crash. These sometimes happen to even moderately new servers. We are referring to frequent and frustrating crashes that hamper employee productivity. 

Server crashes are undoubtedly bad for business. They can lead to data loss and impede employee productivity. If your server is regularly crashing, don’t just bear with it. Upgrade as a matter of urgency! 

Is The Server Room Getting A Little Hot? 

Another common symptom of a server on its last legs is the temperature of the server room. A server that needs an upgrade will be using a lot of power in order to operate. This in turn leads to heat generation which can raise the core temperature of the room that your server lives in. 

Most server rooms typically have cooling systems to help with issues like this. However, in the case of a dying server, not even these solutions will be able to fight the heat. In turn, overheating servers increase the risk of system shutdown and lead to problems like downtime that are costly for business. 

What To Do If You Think Your Server Needs An Upgrade 

Given the costs associated with purchasing a new server, it is easy to understand why many organizations continue to use their older and less reliable hardware. However, as we have demonstrated, using an out-of-date server is a huge business risk. 

The good news is that with a little thought and strategy, you can make the process of buying a server cost-efficient while also making the maintenance process simple and straightforward. Here are some things to consider. 

Assess The Parts You Need 

Your server is made up of different components (not all of which will necessarily need to be replaced during the upgrade). By engaging with IT experts who can review your hardware, you can carefully choose the parts that need an upgrade which will save you money while also allowing you to upcycle and be more sustainable. 

Book In Regular Maintenance Procedures 

Regular monitoring and maintenance is the best way to keep a server in tip top shape and increase its lifespan. If you don’t have an IT team to regularly review your server’s performance, consider outsourcing your network maintenance and monitoring to a managed service provider. 

Companies like us perform proactive and predictive maintenance on your IT infrastructure. We identify and solve potential issues before they lead to problems like downtime. 

Assess Your Business Needs 

It is vital to purchase a server that fits your company needs and can scale up and down with your business as you add more load to the network or hire more employees. We can help you find the best server for your business’ unique requirements.

Need Help With Maintaining Your Server Or Think It Might Be Time For An Upgrade? We Can Help! 

If you are interested in achieving optimal results from your server, you must go for the right hardware and regularly upgrade it. There are a multitude of options available and we understand that this saturation can confuse you. However, there is no need to worry.  

Sound Computers brings just the right computer technology for fulfilling your business needs. Contact us today for a free consultation.

December 6, 2022
Sound Computers Admin