Performing Weekly SharePoint Maintenance

Maintenance procedures that require slightly less attention than daily checking are categorized in a weekly routine and are examined in the following sections.

Checking Disk Space

Disk space is a precious commodity. Although the disk capacity of a Windows Server system can seem virtually endless, the amount of free space on all drives should be checked daily. Serious problems can occur if there isn’t enough disk space.

One of the most common disk space problems occurs on database drives where all SQL SharePoint data is held. Other volumes such as the system drive and partitions with logging data can also quickly fill up.

As mentioned earlier, lack of free disk space can cause a multitude of problems including, but not limited to, the following:

• SharePoint application failures

• System crashes

• Unsuccessful backup jobs

• Service failures

• Inability to audit

• Degradation of performance

To prevent these problems from occurring, administrators should keep the amount of free space to at least 25 percent.

Verifying SharePoint Hardware Components

Hardware components supported by Windows Server are reliable, but this doesn’t mean that they’ll always run continuously without failure. Hardware availability is measured in terms of mean time between failures (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). This includes downtime for both planned and unplanned events. These measurements provided by the manufacturer are good guidelines to follow; however, mechanical parts are bound to fail at one time or another. As a result, hardware should be monitored weekly to ensure efficient operation.

Hardware can be monitored in many different ways. For example, server systems may have internal checks and logging functionality to warn against possible failure, Windows Server’s System Monitor may bring light to a hardware failure, and a physical hardware check can help to determine whether the system is about to experience a problem with the hardware.

If a failure occurs or is about to occur on a SharePoint server, having an inventory of spare hardware can significantly improve the chances and timing of recoverability. Checking system hardware on a weekly basis provides the opportunity to correct the issue before it becomes a problem.

Archiving Event Logs

The three event logs on all servers can be archived manually, or a script can be written to automate the task. You should archive the event logs to a central location for ease of management and retrieval.

The specific amount of time to keep archived log files varies on a per-organization basis. For example, banks or other high-security organizations may be required to keep event logs up to a few years. As a best practice, organizations should keep event logs for at least three months.