System Maintenance – Procedures and Best Practices/Suggestions

System Maintenance – Procedures and Best Practices/Suggestions

System Maintenance – Procedures and Best Practices/Suggestions

 

Overview

System maintenance is critical to ensure the continued performance, security, and reliability of IT systems. This article outlines the types of maintenance, responsibilities, and best practices to minimize downtime and disruptions.

System Maintenance Activities

  1. System Patch Management
    • Apply OS security patches and hotfixes regularly
    • Test patches in a staging environment before production rollout
  2. System Updates
    • Perform kernel updates (Linux) and cumulative updates (Windows)
    • Reboot servers if required post-update
    • Modifying systems to work with changing environments (e.g., OS upgrades, new hardware)
  3. Performance Tuning
    • Monitor and adjust memory, CPU, disk I/O configurations
    • Clean up temporary/log files
    • Monitor disk usage and expand volumes if necessary
    • Disk Cleanup and defragmentation
    • Hardware Health Check
    • Security Scan Vulnerability
    • Disable unnecessary services
    • Time Sync Check (Server and Real time)
    • Server Log Review
  4. User & Permissions Review
    • Audit user accounts and access rights quarterly
    • Remove or disable unused accounts
    • Resource utilization monitoring
    • Service Availability Check (Critical for business)
  5. Backup and Recovery Verification
    • Confirm backups run successfully
    • Conduct recovery tests semi-annually

Maintenance Schedule

Type

  Frequency

Responsibility

OS Updates

  Monthly

IT Systems Administrator

Security Patches

  As released

IT Security Team

Hardware Checks

  Quarterly

Data Center Ops Team

Backup Verification

  Weekly/Fortnightly

Backup Administrator

Maintenance Window Guidelines

  • Schedule during off-peak hours (e.g., Sundays 12:00 AM – 6:00 AM)
  • Notify impacted users at least 48 hours in advance
  • Maintain a rollback plan in case of fail

 

Best Practices

  • Always back up systems before performing maintenance
  • Use change management procedures for significant updates
  • Test patches in staging before applying to production
  • Communicate clearly with end users about planned downtimes
  • Maintain an updated inventory of all systems and their maintenance history

 

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