HARDWARE AND INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

Time-to-market pressures have forced many web-based businesses to create web infrastructures (everything that makes your pretty pages work) in a haphazard fashion. These websites sometimes experience substantial downtime as a result of poor planning and/or maintenance — a flaw immediately apparent to customers and business partners. Keeping your website up and available is the goal. Attaining 99.999% availability (“five nines”) is an exhausting, arduous, and never-ending pursuit. Your website’s failure points can include: human error, hacker infiltration, faulty software in routers and switches, increased bandwidth traffic that crashes servers, configuration problems, power failures, major carrier outages, not to mention any of the numerous applications that run your website.

The total “end-to-end” performance of the website’s infrastructure must be understood and analyzed in order to ensure that it delivers the performance demanded by today’s web customers. However, this is not achievable by the simple addition of a website management component to the m lange of existing systems, network, and application management solutions already peppered throughout the average enterprise website.

But the case is not hopeless. Although a majority of all websites are now hosted externally, it is still vital that a website operator understands the importance of real time management and capacity planning. Many websites are sophisticated systems that incorporate transaction processing and any problematic component between the customer and the website can effect performance and reliability. Help is on the way.

A formal management and maintenance system for a web-based business ran on in-house equipment is crucial. This scenario requires that a robust management system must be designed and implemented, i.e., the full “end-to-end” system — application, network, connectivity and systems — if the site is to remain reliable and maintain cutting edge technology.

To accomplish this, all of your servers including your web server should be as self-documenting as possible. All programs and other source code should be published, and you should have a web policy document with goals, practice, management, etc. that is frequently updated and in an easily accessible (but secure) location.

Here is the help (again, the cost depends upon your site’s needs):

NetMechanic (www.netmechanic.com). This all-in-one website maintenance service performs whole site link checking, HTML validation, load time analysis, and server reliability testing.

TIDF Maintenance Repair Shop (www.tidf.com/theIDF/wmrs/services.cfm). This maintenance service focuses on website assurance (monitoring, diagnostics and testing, browser compatibility checks), preventative maintenance and enhancement services (recurring updates, database maintenance and upgrades, site efficiency improvements including website infrastructure and general enhancements and tweaks), and website repair and emergency services (emergency website re-deployment, emergency assistance, hosting issues, database fixes and code repair).

Or use an outsourcing service like Elance Online (www.elance.com). Elance provides access to global expertise that is cost-effective and of high quality. There are a number ways you can use Elance Online to gain the website maintenance you need: Use Elance to search for the expertise you need; post your needs on the Elance website and wait for proposals to come flowing in; or contact Elance’s Project Services for project scoping, vendor selection, and/or project management assistance.

With the proper management and maintenance system in place, a web-based business can monitor and manage applications, data, systems, and networks in an integrated, pro-active manner using sophisticated software tools. In addition, the data gathered and reported can be used for other functions, such as security, capacity planning, etc. However, when it comes to five nines availability there’s no single answer, just as there is no single point of failure. While a website should implement best practices to improve its chances, there are just too many factors that can bring down your website. The only sure way to minimize such incidents is strict attention to planning and preparation.

NOTE
Maintaining a website can be time consuming, so you might want to outsource your website’s management and maintenance chores. While there are many qualified experts that can help you manage, maintain and even fix a problematic website, it’s up to you to be specific as to what you expect from the outsourcer and to understand the outsourcer’s contractually obligated duties. Read Chapter 13 before going down this path.