Daily Server Monitoring for LiquidWeb Server, cPanel, and WHM

Purpose

The purpose of this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to provide clear and consistent guidelines for daily server monitoring to ensure system health, security, and performance of LiquidWeb servers, cPanel, and WHM.

Scope

• System Health Check
• Service Status
• Security Monitoring
• Backup Verification
• Disk Space Monitoring
• User Account Activity
• Website and Application Health
• Alerts and Notifications

Roles and Responsibilities:

• System Administrators: Perform daily monitoring tasks, review logs, and address any issues.
• IT Support Team: Assist in troubleshooting, escalate critical issues, and maintain documentation.

Glossary:

• WHM: Web Host Manager, a server administration tool.
• cPanel: A web-based control panel for managing web hosting services.
• LFD: Login Failure Daemon, a security tool for detecting login failures.

Preparation and Prerequisites

• Ensure access to WHM and cPanel.
• Have monitoring tools like UptimeRobot, Pingdom, and Imunify360 installed and configured.

Timeline for Task Completion

• Estimated Time: 30-60 minutes daily
• Frequency: Daily
• Review Schedule: Weekly review of monitoring logs and monthly performance evaluation.

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. System Health Check

• System Uptime:

  1. In WHM, go to Server Status > Server Information.

2. Check the uptime displayed on the information page.

    

• Resource Usage:

  1. In WHM, navigate to Server Status > Server Information.

  2. Review CPU, memory, and disk space usage charts.

 

2. Service Status

• Service Logs:

  1. In WHM, go Daily Process Logs

 

2. Check %CPU Usage. If it exceeds what’s reasonable (5% above) the site should be investigated. 

 

 

3. Security Monitoring

• Login Attempts:

  1. In WHM, go to Security Center > cPHulk Brute Force Protection.

2. Review the login attempts and block any suspicious IP addresses if necessary.

 

• Intrusion Detection:

  1. In WHM, use tools like Plugins > ConfigServer Security & Firewall to monitor network traffic.

2. Ensure the firewall is active and rules are correctly applied.

 

3. Check if LFD (Login Failure Daemon) is enabled and check statistics for any alerts or blocked IPs.

 

• File Integrity:

   

  1. Use Imunify360 (if installed) via WHM to scan for file integrity issues and unauthorized changes.

  2. Navigate to Plugins > Imunify360 and review the security alerts.

4. Backup Verification

• Backup Status:

  1. In WHM, go to Backup > Backup Restoration.

  2. Ensure the latest backups are listed and have completed successfully.

• Backup Integrity:

  1. Select a recent backup and perform a test restore on a non-critical account to verify integrity.

  2. Ensure the restored data is accurate and complete.

 

 

5. Disk Space Monitoring

• Disk Usage:

1. Log in to WHM:

   • Access your WHM login page and enter your credentials.

2. Navigate to Disk Usage:

   • Go to Home > System Health > Show Current Disk Usage.

3. Review Disk Usage:

   • The Disk Usage page will show a table with columns for each partition, including total size, used space, available space, and the percentage used.

• Indicators to look for:

1. Sufficient Free Space:

   • Rule of Thumb: Ensure at least 20% free space on all partitions to accommodate growth and temporary files.

   • Critical Partitions: Pay close attention to partitions like /, /home, /var, /usr, and /tmp.

6. User Account Activity

• User Access:

  1. In WHM, go to Account Information > List Accounts.

  2. Review recent login activity and user account changes.

• New Accounts:

  1. Verify any new user accounts listed in Account Information > List Accounts.

  2. Ensure they are legitimate and configured correctly.

 

7. Website and Application Health

• Website Availability:

  1. Use external monitoring tools like UptimeRobot or Pingdom to check website availability.

2. Manually visit hosted websites to ensure they are online and responsive.

8. Alerts and Notifications

• System Alerts:

  1. Review any alerts or notifications received via Slack or email.

2. Take appropriate action based on the alerts.

    

• Escalation:

  1. Escalate critical issues to relevant team members 

  2. or Create a ticket or contact Liquid Web Chat support as needed.

  3. Document the issues and actions taken  in the Slack channel and Clickup for future reference.

      

• Liquid Web Support

  1. Ticket Submission

     • Login to https://www.liquidweb.com/

 

• Go to https://my.liquidweb.com/support/mytickets and click “Open Ticket” 

• Fill up the popup form that will appear and click “Create Ticket”

2. Live Chat Support

   • Login to https://www.liquidweb.com/

• Go to https://my.liquidweb.com/support/mytickets and click “Chat with a Human”

• Fill up the chatbox form that will appear and click “Start Chat”

 

 

 

Tools and Resources

• WHM and cPanel access.
• External monitoring tools (e.g., UptimeRobot, Pingdom).
• Security tools (e.g., ConfigServer Security & Firewall, Imunify360).
• Backup tools within WHM.

Safety and Compliance Measures

• Adhere to data privacy regulations.
• Ensure compliance with internal security policies.

Quality Control and Evaluation Metrics

• System uptime and resource usage within acceptable limits.
• Successful completion of daily backups.
• No unresolved security alerts.

Exception and Problem Handling

• If an issue cannot be resolved internally, escalate to LiquidWeb support.
• Document all problems and resolutions for future reference.

Documentation and Record Keeping

Requirements:

• Maintain logs of daily monitoring activities.
• Keep records of any issues, actions taken, and communications with support.

Procedure Review and Update

• Review and update the procedure annually or as needed based on changes in system requirements or feedback.