If you have a website then there are a number of things you need to pay attention to and think about. This is extra important if you are in complete control. However, most websites use shared responsibilities by renting. But which responsibilities are yours?
Roughly speaking, there are two forms of hosting: you buy and manage all the hardware and software yourself or you rent it. In the latter case, tasks are divided between the two parties. So which party is responsible for what.
Shared hosting, where responsibilities are divided, is by far the most widely used worldwide. It fits well with small to medium-sized websites. With shared hosting, only a piece of one physical server (computer) is rented. One office suite in a business center, as it were.
With shared hosting, the hoster often takes care of physical maintenance. Replacing a broken cable, for example. But the software on this server is also largely maintained by the hoster. Still, there are tasks you need to think about yourself. Even if you use shared hosting. And not every tenant is always aware of that.
CMS updates
There is a good chance that you are using a popular system such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or something similar. These are also popular targets for criminals. Keeping the website itself up to date, and anything the website is made up of such as plugins or modules, is therefore very important. Daily is perfect, but weekly is often sufficient. In either case, it remains important to act immediately if, for example, a vulnerability has been discovered. Therefore, stay current on your used system.
Server updates
Like all computers, servers receive frequent updates. Usually, you won't notice these because the hoster installs them. Nevertheless, it is important to know that often only security updates are activated automatically. At least, for the software your website directly works with. Updates that change or add functionality are not activated immediately. This is to prevent your website from breaking. A concrete example of this is PHP. You should therefore regularly activate a newer version as soon as your website is ready for it.
Checking limits
Not infrequently, reaching limits is noticed too late. In addition to the website itself, you may also use email through your hosting. An overflowing mailbox is a common cause to find limits quickly. Of course, limits such as the use of hard disk space, as well as bandwidth, must be monitored. This can prevent the service from (temporarily) malfunctioning or being paused. Therefore, anticipate in time and avoid outgrowing these limits.
Up-to-date backups
Backups are your own responsibility. The better hosters make an emergency backup part of the arrangements. Nevertheless, it is advisable to have an active backup policy of your own. The security of having an up-to-date backup that can also be quickly restored independently is too important not to have personal control over. Therefore, map out which data is important and create a good backup of it yourself at regular intervals. This works best by automating it and then checking it regularly. The deployability included.
Proactive monitoring
The most crucial mistake is forgetting to monitor. Monitoring is something you do for yourself and for your visitors. Marketing-wise, it is good to know how the website is being used. This provides insight into what is going well and what could be improved. Security-wise, however, it is even more important to keep an eye on things. Updates do not fix everything (in a timely manner). Therefore, check logs regularly to discover strange activity and prevent it in the future. Almost all websites are automatically visited at least once a week by robots made by criminal. The Internet is ideal for them because it still has a large blind spot. Therefore, monitor proactively to prevent, for example, unlawful entry, thefts, spam and fraud. For your visitors and yourself.
Subcontracting
If you lack the time or expertise to do it yourself, then consider subcontracting these tasks. In addition to hosting, Exclusive-IT also offers other subscriptions. From maintenance to security. This way a suitable solution can be put together for every situation.