The Common Server Optimization Techniques You Should Know About

 

With technology and digital transformation, the importance of servers has increased more than ever. As businesses develop, grow and transform digitally, the need for the server is quite unavoidable. With that being said, a server is generally a computing device delivering data and services to other computers or programs within a network. As part of modern computing, servers could be useful in performing multiple functions at the same time or for maintaining a specific task at a time. But it is also important to keep your server performance high for the sake of your business operations. Most importantly, there are organizations that provide outsourced hosting support services including server management, monitoring, optimization, and more. It is best that you approach the best service provider for your server-related challenges.

Now, what is server optimization? Server optimization is generally the process of improving server performance through a number of techniques. It also helps improve the efficiency of data processing as well as application configuration. Most importantly, the performance of your server can have an impact on your business and its operation. If your websites are loading slowly or the applications are not fully available for use, that is probably because your server got overloaded and is unable to perform the necessary functions. Here are some common techniques to optimize your server for better performance.

1. Virtualization

Virtualization is generally the process of splitting the physical server into multiple virtual servers with the help of software. These isolated virtual servers or commonly known as virtual machines (VMs) are unique and are well sufficient for running their own independent operating systems. With that being said, server virtualization makes it easy for physical servers to run multiple operating systems and services simultaneously. The main advantage of using virtualization technology is the efficient use of physical hardware thereby offering a high return on investment for your organization.

2. Database Optimization

The number of queries executed on the database increase with the website traffic resulting in a slow website loading speed. So, to optimize server memory and CPU, it is best to make changes to the database settings to match the traffic or query demands. This strategy is commonly known as database optimization where response time from database systems is reduced thereby increasing the server performance. Additionally, the database ensures proper extraction and management of content by helping to deliver the information stored in a hierarchical structure.

3. Website Caching

The best way to achieve server optimization is through the method of caching. Caching is the way of storing the present versions of a website on the hosting server and delivering these versions to users until the website gets updated. Also, with caching, you can reduce the load time by 50% and there is no need to send database requests all the time. In addition, caching can be enabled from 4 locations — Application cache, Memory cache, HTTP cache and OpCode cache. These caches help in improving the speed of your server in turn optimizing the overall performance.

4. Optimizing Image Size

Images are responsible for increasing the weight of web pages in turn affecting their loading speed. However, the importance of image for every website makes it unavoidable. Besides, images allow a website or application to visualize the available content and illustrate the important concepts as well as showcase the product or services to the visitor. With image optimization, you could increase the site performance and enhance the loading speed. This strategy helps in less bandwidth consumption by the reduction of space used to store the images.

5. Reducing Javascript and CSS Files

When your website has a lot of CSS and Javascript files, it could lead to the creation of many HTTP requests whenever a specific file is accessed by a user. Such HTTP requests are highly harmful to the user browser. However, by reducing the amount of CSS and javascript files, you could enhance the loading speed and overall performance of the site. With that being said, website speed acts as a deciding factor for customer engagement and satisfaction. Also, when you group all CSS as one and the Javascript as another, the number of HTTP requests can be reduced.

6. Decrease the Number of Plugins

Plugins play an important role in websites, especially for eCommerce websites. They are used to improve functionality by delivering new third-party features to your website. But, when you use more plugins, you may need more resources to run them. This could slow down your website and may also cause severe security issues thereby leading to unsatisfied customers and less website traffic. However, the removal or deactivation of unnecessary plugins could help increase site performance and overall speed.

Conclusion

In short, server optimization has become a necessity when it comes to enhancing the speed and performance of your websites. In that way, your organization could achieve business goals within no time. Besides, having a fully functional business website is critical for your business to sustain itself in this digital era. Additionally, leverage the above-mentioned techniques commonly used by an outsourced web hosting supporting company to optimize your server for better performance in turn leading to more website traffic.