Adequate utilization of server resources has always been a serious issue and concern. We can distinguish between fully maximizing the efficiency of a single server or maximizing the efficiency of multiple servers and even server clusters. Both of those concerns are associated with a variety of different problems, but also with possible solutions.
Modern applications and services are very demanding, but modern servers also consist of extremely powerful hardware, with up to 64 cores and 128GB of RAM to meet all requirements. However, even the best servers have their limits and cannot exceed them. All servers that function at 100% or close to it, are simply put, poorly utilized. Not only are they consuming a lot more power than is necessary, but also shortening their lifespan by working this way. In addition to that, they also hamper the performance of the services they are hosting and all the clients that are connected to them, are experiencing very poor performances.
Studies have shown that the maximum capacity a server should run at is 80 percent. It is the sweet spot between maximizing energy efficiency and delivering optimal performance. Servers running above that will have diminishing performance returns and will just cause a lot of problems in the long run. Therefore it is important to closely monitor the server usage and take the necessary measures to maintain performance at an optimal level.
A company that hosts its applications or services that are used by a large number of people in different areas of the world will, of course, need a multitude of servers spread geographically that are capable of handling a large number of incoming requests. Now another issue arises and that’s estimating the total number of servers that should be made available for the clients to connect to. If the company doesn’t provide enough servers, the servers will start running at maximum capacity extremely quickly, they will run very poorly and the customers will be dissatisfied and search for other alternative services or applications if it happens again and again. On the other hand, if the company has too many available servers, a lot of them will be underutilized and they will just be excessive costs.
To avoid having these issues, a quality Global Server Load Balancer (GSLB) is necessary. Top tier GSLB’s are capable of measuring the server load of all the available servers in real-time, making it very easy for the company to track the data, adapt and make changes on the fly. They can either boot up additional servers if necessary or take some down to save on costs. This makes it easy to handle a sudden influx of new users at any given time and ensure all the customers are having a great experience.