Overseeing Your Server
It is vital that you monitor the server, and by it is not only meant whether it's up or not, but a much more descriptive view into the proceedings. Popular open source overseeing tools are nagios, cacti, munin, and also zabbix, and it just isn't uncommon to use them in combination at the same time.
What, now, are the stats you need to be monitoring in general:
uptime - pinging the particular server (provided ICMP replies usually are not being filtered) to check whether it's alive or not;
disk space - monitoring all partitions on their free space. A full root partition is particularly nasty as it could bring your entire server with a stop, but it just isn't difficult to see in which any full partition is normally a bad thing that will cause disastrous side outcomes;
memory consumption - simply how much physical RAM is still left, how much is used by the system, simply by applications, etc. Is swap space used, how often is it used, etc.;
CPU utilisation - how loaded could be the CPU, do you have enough reserves, or are you already while using the CPU near its ability limits, how many processes are being run concurrently, etc.;
Server monitoring - are typical the services on the server running as designed? Such as apache, mysqld, sshd, and so forth.;
database monitoring - what exactly is your database doing, the amount of queries per second are increasingly being executed, how many simultaneous connections are you experiencing, and so on;
network traffic - can be your server generating plenty of unwanted traffic, do you might have any unusual spikes, or simply how much traffic are you making use of, anyway?
These are merely examples, but they give an individual an idea of what can be done - the actual variety of checks and monitoring scripts will be legion, and it will be up to you and your ISP to choose which ones to apply. It is always advisable to utilize monitoring, it not only means you should have your own alert system when things make a mistake, but it will also offer you excellent insights into the general development with regards to use and capacity of one's server, allowing you to plan ahead far more accurately than without overseeing and statistics collection.
Our own advice: talk to the ISP about monitoring alternatives. Some do it at no cost, some will charge somewhat, but being ahead with the competition and having the power to act proactively is a huge advantage for any enterprise, especially in IT, in which information is key.
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