When Should You Upgrade Your Server?

You can upgrade your servers whenever you want, but some circumstances make a server upgrade essential.

  • You want to host new applications or services with resource requirements that exceed your server’s current specifications.
  • You notice memory, CPU, or network bottlenecks that impact performance.
  • CPU, storage, or RAM utilization regularly rise above 70%. Servers should have a margin of unused resources to cope with unpredictable loads and traffic spikes.
  • You want to take advantage of more modern hardware.

You can use tools such as ‘top’ and ‘htop’ to monitor a Linux cloud server’s CPU and RAM utilization and ‘nload’ to monitor network traffic and bandwidth use; you can install them with your Linux distribution’s package manager. We discussed CPU load averages in greater depth in How to Optimize a Server for Ecommerce.

How to Upgrade a Cloud Server

You can upgrade cloud servers at any time by adjusting resource allocations in the ServerMania Cloud control panel. From the server overview page, select Tools > Edit Virtual Server to change:

  • The number of CPU cores
  • The amount of RAM
  • The server’s bandwidth allocation

To increase the storage available to your server, go to the Disks menu. From there, you can resize the disks connected to your server or create new disks.

For more details see Managing A Cloud Server.

How to Upgrade a Hybrid Server

Hybrid servers are unfortunately unable to be scaled up or down. You would need to place an order for a larger Hybrid server and migrate the content in order to move to a larger plan. Cloud servers are a great alternative to Hybrid servers as you can upgrade the plan as needed.

How to Upgrade a Dedicated Server

To upgrade a dedicated server, submit a support ticket or contact us, and our server technicians will install the new components. The server’s hardware may limit Dedicated Server upgrade options, but in general, you can upgrade the RAM, storage, and bandwidth.

  • RAM — we can add more RAM depending on the server’s motherboard and CPU. If motherboard and CPU constraints mean RAM cannot be upgraded, you may need to migrate to a new machine with a higher RAM capacity.
  • CPU — CPU upgrades require a move to a different machine equipped with a higher spec CPU.
  • Storage — We can add more or faster storage drives depending on the server’s chassis and the number of available drive slots.
  • Bandwidth — Bandwidth can be upgraded at any time. That includes both bandwidth allocation and the speed of the network port. The port speed available depends on which data center you are in.

Need Help Upgrading Your Server?

If you need any assistance to upgrade your cloud server or want to talk to a specialist about dedicated server upgrades, contact our support team for assistance.