Donaldson R F
Servers & Hosting (Plesk, CloudPanel, Linux)
Server Health & Performance Check
A general diagnostic of a Linux server's resource usage, config and common problem areas.
The Problem
The server feels slow or you just want a second pair of eyes before something breaks — this covers CPU, memory, disk, running processes and common misconfigurations in one pass.
About this problem
A server that 'feels slow' rarely has one obvious cause — it's usually some combination of resource pressure, a runaway process nobody's noticed, or a configuration that was fine at launch and hasn't been revisited since traffic grew. Without a structured look across CPU, memory, disk and running services, it's mostly guesswork.
This tends to come up either proactively (wanting a second pair of eyes before something breaks) or reactively after a specific slowdown that resolved itself but left no clear explanation.
What's Included
- Reviewing CPU, memory and disk usage patterns
- Checking for runaway or zombie processes
- Reviewing key service configurations (web server, database, PHP) for obvious issues
- A written report ranking findings by urgency
What's NOT Included
- Fixing every issue found (quoted separately once scope is known)
- Application-level code review
- Ongoing monitoring setup (see Uptime Kuma / alerting services)
How It Works
- Review CPU, memory and disk usage patterns over a representative period, not just a single snapshot.
- Check for runaway, zombie, or unexpectedly resource-heavy processes.
- Review key service configurations (web server, database, PHP) for obvious misconfigurations.
- Cross-reference findings against recent changes or incidents if any are known.
- Deliver a written report ranking findings by actual urgency, not just by what's easiest to fix.
In practice: you buy the service, send over whatever access or details the job needs, I investigate and do the work, and you confirm it's resolved before we call it done.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does a server health check actually look at?
- CPU, memory and disk usage patterns, running processes, and the configuration of key services like the web server, database and PHP — essentially a structured diagnostic pass.
- How do I know if my server needs a health check?
- General sluggishness with no obvious single cause, or wanting a baseline review before scaling up usage, are both good reasons — it doesn't require something being actively broken.
- Will a health check fix problems it finds?
- The check itself is diagnostic — any fixes needed are scoped and quoted separately once the actual issues are known, since the scope varies a lot depending on what's found.
- How long does a server health check take?
- Typically a few hours of review time, though gathering a representative picture of intermittent issues sometimes benefits from monitoring over a short period first.
- Can a health check find security issues too?
- It can surface obvious configuration gaps, but it's not a dedicated security audit — significant security concerns found would be flagged, with deeper hardening scoped separately if needed.
- Is this useful for a server that seems to be running fine?
- Yes, a baseline check before growth or before something breaks is often cheaper and less stressful than diagnosing a problem after it's already affecting things.