Ok, let’s say you have a server and run some sites on it. What items do you need to consider it as reliable? Here is a short list of things you might want to have.

1. KVM switch

KVM stands for keyboard, video and mouse. It’s a hardware which allows you to manage your server as if it’s accessible physically. For instance, you upgrade a kernel and a server  becomes inaccessible. KVM could help you to boot with the other one. Ask your host provider about it. Nowadays almost all reliable datacenters provide KVM.

2. Off-site backups

This item is definitely must have. You know, bad things happen. Due to an human or software mistake data could be lost. Filesystems could crash. HDD could fail. To make sure you have all current data you had better to preconsider offsite backups. There are a lot of services which allow to store files, even for free. Try to check and you will find tons of publicly accessible scripts for making backups, both files and databases. One services provide rsync feature, other use FTP. Anyhow you do need the backups. And it would be better to think about before something goes wrong.

3. Reliable remote monitoring service

If you have a site you always want to get it working. ServerBeep.com provides free monitoring service which aims to maximize your websites uptime. Actually it includes almost all necessary checks to make sure your server is working as it should: HTTP(S), FTP, mail and database checks. Gathered statistics allows you to get  an outages list. Publicly accessible status page lets to get current services state even without authorization.