One of the key elements in promoting end-user happiness is optimising server performance.
It’s crucial to optimise servers as your company or website expands in order to continuously monitor functionality, security, availability, and other processes. Additionally, keeping your servers (and websites) responsive is crucial since search engines like Google give sites a performance rating. Website performance is even more crucial because even website users expect your website to load in under two seconds. Today, we’ll discuss five quick techniques to improve server speed, whether it be on a cloud, dedicated, or VPS server.
Describe a server
A system or computer known as a server is outfitted with specialised software and/or hardware that makes data, services, applications, or resources available to other computers, also known as clients.
These services are delivered to the client over a network in this process. Consider it a form of transportation; unlike cars, buses, and aeroplanes, which can carry several people at once, bicycles can only carry one person. All of these vehicles have varying capacity for moving both people and goods.
The same applies to servers as well. Although the capacity of each type of server varies, the goal is always to deliver resources to clients.
How does server optimization work?
For routine business operations, many businesses rely on the availability and efficiency of their servers.
Furthermore, when their firm expands, they must optimise their servers. A technical procedure called server optimization is performed to increase a server’s overall functioning and speed.
It is a collection of IT techniques that enhances a number of factors, including resource consolidation, data processing effectiveness, and application configuration. The finest server optimization techniques require a data center’s physical hardware being stabilised.
Virtualization also allows for server optimization. A layer within a server is created via server virtualization, which enables the server to act as several servers. In this manner, a single server may support a greater variety of operating systems, applications, and users.
Best ways to Optimize Your Server
1) Choose the Correct Application (Instead of Default App)
Many users utilise the programmes that are pre-installed on their servers.
Not always is this the greatest choice. Finding programmes that will increase your server’s efficiency is preferable. Many owners of dedicated, VPS, and cloud servers are unaware of what distinguishes default programmes from other types. In fact, many people keep working on site code optimization without taking into account alternative strategies that might be able to address speed-related issues.
Instead, you can change the application server. There are two ways to:
a) Adjust the settings to the site traffic.
b) To achieve the best performance, enable cache.
Try these above techniques as a first backup if you’re still simply utilizing the default application settings.
2) Checking with caching:
Caching reduces website load time by more than 50%, making it one of the finest server optimization techniques. With caching, the server will take less time each time a new visitor requests a page refresh to run the app code, get the database, download files from the disc, and assemble the results into the HTML page. Instead, the server will just send the new user a processed result.
You can activate cache in the following places:
a) OpCode Cache: It is a fantastic option for complex programmes like Drupal or Magento because it compiles the results of previous page queries.
b) Application Cache: For better efficiency, certain programmes like Drupal or Magento store processed template files as pages. This one can be used in conjunction with any of the caches described above.
c) Bits of data created by programmes are stored in the Memory Cache. The server can deliver that specific portion of data when users request it without further processing.Given that it is faster than OpCode, it is excellent for large load-balanced websites.
d) HTTP Cache: Rather than using fragments of data, this one caches the complete HTML page. Because it is the fastest, it is ideal for web applications with significant traffic.
Any of these caches is fantastic for optimising the server and enhancing performance in general.
3 Improvements to DNS Query Response Time
When it comes to load time, DNS query response time is crucial. 30 ms or less is the ideal time for a DNS response from a website. However, many websites handle traffic from countries other than the one where they are hosted, which is why they take longer than 200 ms.
The distance is the primary problem here. The longer it takes for DNS to execute, the more away it is from a browser. A distributed DNS cluster would be the answer to this issue.
A DNS cluster with VPS servers might look like this:
a) Purchase three VPS servers at a bargain in three distinct global locations (Europe, Australia, America).
b) Set up backup DNS servers and primary DNS servers for each server.
4) Improve the Database Settings
The amount of database queries that are run grows as your website’s traffic does.
The type of database queries run also changes everytime you upgrade the web application or instal a new plugin or module.
As a result, as your site gets more complicated, the database’s workload changes over time.
Your website will have CPU or memory problems if your settings aren’t changed to keep up with these changes.
On a frequent basis, modify your database settings to accommodate query or traffic demands. Additionally, keep an eye on indicators like memory use, query latency, and slow queries to determine when optimization is required.
5) Database tables should be defragmented.
Databases are used by modern websites to store content, product information, and accomplish much more. Webmasters add, delete, or change pages, as well as add or remove listed products, while users make fresh comments. Every day, all of this activity leaves holes in the database tables.
In other words, there are a few spots where information was removed and not replaced.
It is known as fragmentation. Don’t forget to check this section at least once a month. If a database table contains gaps that make up more than 5% of its size, you should fix it.