Five Tips for Freeing Up a Congested Server

Your web server is critical in terms of storing data and information pertinent to the running of your site. Unfortunately, when it becomes congested and overloaded, it can cause the entire domain to crash. This can result in unscheduled downtime, speed issues for your visitors and other server-related problems. In order to get your webpage to function properly, there are ways for you to free up some space that can lead to a better-running domain.

Remove Old Data and Logs

Older files and logs are typically stored either for later use or viewing. This can take up a lot of unnecessary space on your server, which can be detrimental to how the site runs. By using a cloud-based log management tool, like a Loggly.com nginx log analyzer, or a container monitoring platform, you’re able to still have the log monitoring that you need without having to manually store it on the server.

Delete Backup Files that Aren’t Needed

Backup files are often needed if you’re making major changes to the domain. However, once the changes have been made and everything’s been put into place, it is time for you to take away the backup files. These backup files can congest your server, causing unscheduled downtime and speed errors for your visitors.

Remove Old Layouts or Themes

Regardless of the type of site or blog you run, you likely use layouts and themes that are designed to create a more modern, simplistic feel. Unfortunately, older themes and layouts might still be found on your server, taking up space that isn’t even necessary. Get rid of these files and eliminate any past themes that you no longer use. If you’d like to save the design for later use, copy the coding and save it on an external server or to a personal computer where you can then email it to yourself when it’s time to be used again.

Get Rid of Trashed Content

In some cases, one or more pages on your site is essentially useless. This involves content that doesn’t drive traffic to the site and doesn’t necessarily have any real purpose. For some files, they might not even be accessible because there are no links going to them. If you have one or more of these types of pages, it’s time to get rid of them to free up some space on your server. Not only are you going to be improving how the webpage functions, but it’ll help to keep your files more organized.

Eliminate Excess Content

The majority of websites that have been made public on the internet can easily be contained in just a few simple pages. You might have multiple pages for different topics of content, which simply adds to the number of files that you need to have saved to the server. Rather than add page after page of content, you can condense it all into one by blending the information available. This also prevents your visitors from having to click multiple links just to find all of the content that they either want or need.