To begin with, why must we maintain our Linux VPS Server or even if it’s just our web server, the purpose is to get an uninterrupted uptime and smooth performance. To the question of how often does a VPS needs to be maintained, it depends on the context of what needs to be maintained. For this, we will need a maintenance schedule of the VPS.
Weekly Task
We will begin with the weekly schedule on what needs to be maintained. For weekly, it will be the essential elements of the server operations, such as the resource consumption, monitoring uptime, reviewing access and error logs, and so on. If possible, also try to look for the latest updates and patches as well to allow your server applications to be up to date.
Monthly Task
Following it will be the monthly tasks, where it will be a less crucial task where we don’t have to check every time. The things that need to be maintained or checked are the RAID status, hardware error, and testing the backup system. It is also recommended to change the password in this phase. By changing the login credentials regularly, hackers will have a harder time decrypting the system password and makes it harder for them to attack the server. If changing passwords too often while handling multiple passwords at once is too hard to handle, look for the password management tools to aid you.
Yearly Task
Right after the monthly tasks will be the yearly tasks. In the yearly task, what can be done is to run a full security audit at least once or twice annually. While this task is done only or twice yearly, doesn’t mean that it is irrelevant. In fact, it is quite an important task to see if there are any vulnerabilities or risks from the disastrous system failure of the VPS. A full check-up will need to be done on all users, software, and plugins. If by chance there are unused or unwanted services and add-ons, it’s best to remove them here.
Urgent Task
Finally, we will have the urgent tasks, as not even the sturdiest security could prevent and harm from attacks. Whenever an unexpected hacker had breached the firewall or malware was found unexpectedly, actions needed to be taken regardless of the time and build the security patch once again. Procrastinating these tasks will only cause the data of the server to be harmed or stolen.
