Virtual private server (VPS) technology offers significant cost savings for users, as it provides the privacy and security of a dedicated server without the expense of an entire server’s resources. However, you might be familiar with the fact that, setting up and management of a VPS is not an easy task. Either the owner of the VPS must have good technical knowledge or that person should hire someone to manage technical issues of his/her VPS.
Consistency and standardization is the biggest issue in managing the virtual servers. Keeping server to work accurate and up-to-date becomes more critical in the virtual environment. I made a list of some points to maintain the performance and security of your Windows VPS servers. Following are tips that you should use in your routine to manage your Windows VPS and get the best performance of your Windows VPS.
Control User Access
If any other person have access to your VPS, then create a separate user account for them and provide them with access to only those resources which that particular user need. If you are the only user of your VPS, create your own separate user account with required permission and leaving the Administrator login clean without any additional software.
Use Strong Passwords
When you get Login details of your Windows VPS, first make sure that all the passwords are strong. If not then change password immediately. When you are up to preparing a password for your VPS or application, make sure that you keep that password as long as you can in the allowable limit and also use a mixture of letter, numbers and special characters. This will prevent anyone to recognize your password.
Install latest windows updates regularly
Microsoft works constantly to release updates for Microsoft products like windows OS. With Windows Update, you can get and install these updates not only the critical ones. Usually, the updates enhances your server’s performance. Updates can also fixes the bugs of Operating System.
Disable unwanted services
Disable the services which are not necessary for the server. This will not only enhance the server’s performance, but it will also increase the server’s security. A law of computing says that the larger the executing code base, the higher chance that the code carries an exploitable vulnerability. By disabling unnecessary services of the server, you can reduce the length of the executing code base, thus you are reducing the probabilities that the server containing an exploitable security hole. If you are disabling services, take care that you do not disable any service that is needed for running your server or any application.
Install only required software
Make sure that you install only the software that you really need in your server. If you have installed trial version of any software and found that you don’t need it, uninstall it and delete it’s temporary files. Else it will not just eats up your hard drive space, but it also slow down your server’s performance. Many VPS hosting providers delivers VPS with pre-installed applications as part of their initial implementation service. In case you don’t require these applications, removing them from the VPS.
Keep an Eye on Event Viewer
Administrator can use Event Viewer to view and manage the event logs. The Event Viewer uses unique event IDs to define the events that a Windows server can encounter. Using Event Viewer administrator can view events in three kinds of logs: application, system, and security. Event Viewer is helpful for administrator to detect network outages, failed process and protocol failures easily.
Keep installed software up to date
In softwares, new bugs as well as security issues are identified and then the vendors release minor upgrades or patches to ensure that their software runs smoothly on the customer’s server. These types of patches make your application more stable. Additionally numerous internet worms and spyware infections can be eliminated by keeping your server’s software programs up-to-date.
Removing Temporary files
The removal of temporary files is a easy and quick task that will save the lots of disk space and keep your Server clean. This will also help you to get the optimum performance of the server and enhances the speed of your Server. Your server can pick up and also store temporary files whenever you browse websites or even add the programs and files to your server. After some time, all these files slow down your server’s performance. You can use the Windows Disk Cleanup tool to clear out these unwanted files.
Restart VPS or services
Some applications use high server resources when it runs for long time. Hence it is advisable to restart VPS or particular services at regular time of interval.
Use Windows Firewall
A firewall is a shielding system which stands between your Server and Internet. Firewall avoids any kind of attempt to unauthorized access of the server. Implementing necessary Firewall setting will definitely be helpful for avoiding any attack to the server. The Firewall provides a little bit of protection by ensuring traffic acceptance only via specific protocols for specific IP addresses.
Following are some additional points to remember while managing your Windows VPS :
- Always use licensed application and install it from application vendor’s provided source only.
- Keep your VPS updated by installing ‘Microsoft Windows updates’ and other third party applications on a regular interval.
- Never delete or modify any user that your hosting provider have created in your VPS.
- Never disable or modify any network card related settings also do not install any application that modifies or disable network card settings of VPS.
- Never modify Firewall settings if you are not familiar with it.
Karly – Server Space
Thanks for sharing these useful tips. Windows VPS server management can be a very tricky task unless you’re a technical expert. So to ensure optimum performance, follow these necessary tips or speak to a technical expert to get the most of the technology.