Server Management
Server management principles for production operations.
Learn to THINK, not memorize commands.
1. Process Management Principles
Tool Selection
| Scenario | Tool | |----------|------| | Node.js app | PM2 (clustering, reload) | | Any app | systemd (Linux native) | | Containers | Docker/Podman | | Orchestration | Kubernetes, Docker Swarm |
Process Management Goals
| Goal | What It Means | |------|---------------| | Restart on crash | Auto-recovery | | Zero-downtime reload | No service interruption | | Clustering | Use all CPU cores | | Persistence | Survive server reboot |
2. Monitoring Principles
What to Monitor
| Category | Key Metrics | |----------|-------------| | Availability | Uptime, health checks | | Performance | Response time, throughput | | Errors | Error rate, types | | Resources | CPU, memory, disk |
Alert Severity Strategy
| Level | Response | |-------|----------| | Critical | Immediate action | | Warning | Investigate soon | | Info | Review daily |
Monitoring Tool Selection
| Need | Options | |------|---------| | Simple/Free | PM2 metrics, htop | | Full observability | Grafana, Datadog | | Error tracking | Sentry | | Uptime | UptimeRobot, Pingdom |
3. Log Management Principles
Log Strategy
| Log Type | Purpose | |----------|---------| | Application logs | Debug, audit | | Access logs | Traffic analysis | | Error logs | Issue detection |
Log Principles
- Rotate logs to prevent disk fill
- Structured logging (JSON) for parsing
- Appropriate levels (error/warn/info/debug)
- No sensitive data in logs
4. Scaling Decisions
When to Scale
| Symptom | Solution | |---------|----------| | High CPU | Add instances (horizontal) | | High memory | Increase RAM or fix leak | | Slow response | Profile first, then scale | | Traffic spikes | Auto-scaling |
Scaling Strategy
| Type | When to Use | |------|-------------| | Vertical | Quick fix, single instance | | Horizontal | Sustainable, distributed | | Auto | Variable traffic |
5. Health Check Principles
What Constitutes Healthy
| Check | Meaning | |-------|---------| | HTTP 200 | Service responding | | Database connected | Data accessible | | Dependencies OK | External services reachable | | Resources OK | CPU/memory not exhausted |
Health Check Implementation
- Simple: Just return 200
- Deep: Check all dependencies
- Choose based on load balancer needs
6. Security Principles
| Area | Principle | |------|-----------| | Access | SSH keys only, no passwords | | Firewall | Only needed ports open | | Updates | Regular security patches | | Secrets | Environment vars, not files | | Audit | Log access and changes |
7. Troubleshooting Priority
When something's wrong:
- Check if running (process status)
- Check logs (error messages)
- Check resources (disk, memory, CPU)
- Check network (ports, DNS)
- Check dependencies (database, APIs)
8. Anti-Patterns
| ❌ Don't | ✅ Do | |----------|-------| | Run as root | Use non-root user | | Ignore logs | Set up log rotation | | Skip monitoring | Monitor from day one | | Manual restarts | Auto-restart config | | No backups | Regular backup schedule |
Remember: A well-managed server is boring. That's the goal.
When to Use
This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.
Limitations
- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
- Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
- Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.