What is Server Monitoring and How Can It Save Your Online Business?

Many online businesses understand what website monitoring is and realize that sometimes it is the one thing that can help make or break their online business. Server monitoring, on the other hand, is still often misunderstood. Many online business owners think that website monitoring and server monitoring are one in the same (as they can sometimes be offered as a package). The truth is, the two services do not always go hand in hand. While both services can be crucial to the success of an online business, they do not always work in the same way.

Understanding Server Monitoring

A website is a site on a server that your customers see when they type your URL into their browser. A server is the hardware that your website is hosted on. When a server is being monitored, the monitoring service checks the working conditions of the server and sends messages to the server to check on various parameters, such as the performance level and disk space available on the server. Server monitoring may also include alerting and benchmarking features.

When a company implements server monitoring in addition to website monitoring, the owner or manager of that company knows if one or all of the server's services is in trouble or is reaching its maximum capacity. Server monitoring can also provide other vital functions such as firewall monitoring, bandwidth monitoring, switch monitoring, and router monitoring. Network flow monitoring and packet sniffing are other elements put into play when monitoring a server. For example, if someone is using the bandwidth of your server you may want to know for what purpose that bandwidth is being used and who is using it to prevent a DDoS attack which without such monitoring in place, could take the sites on that server down.

Some Tasks Are Best Left to the Professionals

If it is impossible to properly monitor one's own website without proper website monitoring service in play, it is virtually inconceivable for a website owner to monitor the server that his or her site is hosted on without proper server monitoring service. Hence the need for a reputable server monitoring service provider. Without such a service, things can go awry with the server that a site or multiple sites are hosted on and, eventually, the websites on that server will go dark.

While website monitoring service is one of the most important investments you will ever make in your online business, in many cases server monitoring is just as important. Especially if your site is hosted on a dedicated server. The last thing you want to do is trust the monitoring of that server to the company that you host your site with, as they may not have the same quality of monitoring that you need in order for your online business to thrive.