A website’s performance, efficiency, and responsiveness heavily rely on the web hosting server it is hosted on. While those pages that run on Virtual Private Servers already offer great performance, there are certain things that each user can tweak to get better work results and that is optimizing and carefully monitoring the server’s resources. Below are some useful steps that will maximize your resource usage. Though it should be noted that to achieve the best results, your VPS Windows server and all technical aspects of it should be adapted to the Windows OS for the best performance. The same logic applies to VPS Linux servers, too.
Avoid Third-Party Assets
These files include anything that a website can request that isn’t a part of your hosting services or page, such as database connections, videos, pictures, and more. Because they technically aren’t located on your page, they take longer times to load, and if your site has links to external content such as videos, naturally, they take longer to establish a connection and play properly.
That is why it’s generally advised to upload and serve all your content strictly from your website. You won’t have to rely on others for content, it will significantly cut down slow loading times, and your VPS Windows server or Linux one won’t have to waste resources retrieving content from other websites.
Use Website Caching To Reduce Load Times
Every time a user browses your website, each new page they access sends a request to the server for site elements, which ultimately uses up resources. Every page generally uses the same site sources, but a new request is still made when visitors click through them, causing longer loading times. Caching becomes essential.
Appropriate caching tools stops the browser from requesting content duplicates that have already been downloaded. Instead, they instruct the browser to use previously cached content. This way, your server uses up fewer resources to communicate with web browsers to load content.
Set Up Spam Filters
Many online businesses use mailers to relay queries and communications between the VPS Windows server or Linux and the website. And spam can become an issue as these systems are easy to exploit by malicious users. That’s why it’s recommended to set up plugins such as Captcha that validate submissions on comment pages.
Another useful option is getting spam filter services that most web hosting providers offer. They can significantly reduce the number of unwanted emails you receive and even optimize your communication channels. Ultimately, this saves up valuable system resources and your time.
Optimize Database Usage
Whether it is MySQL, MariaDB, or another platform, databases use up a significant amount of resources, and their queries directly impact how fast your website loads. Generally, it’s advised to monitor these queries with built-in commands like ‘explain’ as it shows what the query is doing. This way, you can see which ones are experiencing issues and are making your database inefficient. Then you can further improve the database’s performance by correcting query structures and syntax or just upgrading the software.
Scan For Large Folders And Files
To keep their website always accessible in case of disaster and their VPS Linux or VPS Windows server safe, most users implement automated backups for them which are then stored on the server itself. This can become an issue in the long run as these files add up over time and take up storage space which could be used for better purposes.
Using separate storage solutions can significantly impact your server and website performance. Moving not only backups but also large files and folders to them frees up your resources.
Monitor Plugins
Various useful plugins, applications, and add-ons make the whole Linux and VPS Windows server experience quite simple and fun. But having an excess of them actually hinders the system processes, especially if a big number of them aren’t used. Another issue is that sometimes you might even find those that you haven’t installed yourself, meaning that your server is also facing some serious security measures.
That’s why it’s a good idea to carefully monitor all your installed plugins and similar software and to remove any that you don’t need or no longer use. Updating them on time is also recommended as out-dated plugins can potentially have security issues because of it, thus making them an easy target for hackers.
Offload The System Logs
Many website owners use logging to gather and store various information about their visitors and their behaviour on the platform. While they are useful, just like big files and folders, these system log files can become too big over time and use up too much space, which can be quite troublesome if you don’t have much of it in the first place. Creating offline backups and storing them on other storage solutions is the way to go with System Logs, too. This way, your Linux or VPS Windows server can use this freed-up space for other necessary system files.
While usually, you can upscale your VPS plan when the lack of resources becomes an issue, this shouldn’t be your first and only option. Especially when you can significantly save up your resources with these steps. When you use them efficiently, not only do you increase the overall performance of the system, but also improve the experience for those visiting your website as this increases accessibility.
