Importance of Health Checks & Monitoring

Case Study: The Importance of IT Health Checks for Business Continuity

Introduction

In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, businesses depend heavily on the performance and resilience of their IT systems. From servers and databases to applications and backups, every component must run efficiently to support operations. One of the most effective ways to ensure this is through regular IT health checks.

At Cyberdan, we provide health checks as part of our onboarding process and ongoing monthly support. These checks allow us to detect potential issues before they escalate into downtime, ensuring service continuity and long-term stability for our clients.

This case study highlights how our health check process transformed the IT environment of a logistics client in the retail sector, improving performance, reliability, and disaster recovery preparedness.

What Are Health Checks?

A health check is a proactive review of key IT systems to identify risks and performance bottlenecks. It involves:

• Monitoring server logs and KPIs to track both real-time and historical performance.
  
• Investigating databases for inefficiencies, resource shortages, or misconfigurations.
  
• Checking applications to ensure responsiveness and uptime.
  
• Validating backup and recovery processes to confirm readiness in case of failure.
  

By combining monitoring with structured reporting, health checks allow businesses to plan upgrades, optimise systems, and address vulnerabilities before they cause disruption.

Every Cyberdan client receives an initial health check during onboarding, followed by regular monthly checks. Each session produces a detailed report, ensuring that issues are not only identified but also acted upon with remedial solutions.

About the Client

The client in this case study is a logistics company serving the retail sector, operating 24/6 with a half-day on Saturday.

As their IT partner, Cyberdan supports their Linux and Oracle-based environment, which powers their RedPrairie/JDA Warehouse Management System (WMS) , a mission-critical application for their warehouse operations.

Given the round-the-clock nature of their business, system stability and performance are essential to avoid operational delays and ensure timely retail deliveries.

Initial Findings from the Health Check

During the initial onboarding health check, several critical issues were discovered that were directly impacting system performance and resilience:

1. Database Inefficiencies
   
   • Low Oracle buffer cache hit ratio (43%) and low PGA hit ratio (56%).
     
   • Slow-running queries affecting application responsiveness.
     
2. Hardware Resource Shortages
   
   • Lack of RAM in the operating system, leading to high swap usage.
     
   • High CPU usage, creating bottlenecks during peak workloads.
     
3. Backup and Recovery Risks
   
   • No dedicated Oracle backup in place, leaving data unprotected in case of failure.
     
4. Operational Issues
   
   • Several printers no longer connected to the network, causing inefficiencies.
     

These findings highlighted that the system was under-resourced and misconfigured, putting the business at risk of downtime and data loss. In a fast-moving warehouse environment, this could have had serious implications for service levels and client trust.

Remedial Work Performed

Cyberdan implemented a series of targeted optimisations to strengthen the client’s IT environment.

1. Resource Optimisation

The client’s platform was hosted on VMware, which had spare resources available. We:

• Increased RAM from 4GB to 12GB.
  
• Upgraded CPU from 2 cores to 4 cores.
  
• Adjusted Oracle memory allocation from 1GB to 6GB, with scope for future adjustments.
  

2. Backup and Disaster Recovery Improvements

• Implemented Oracle RMAN backup scripts for nightly full backups.
  
• Added hourly archive log backups for near real-time recovery.
  
• Multiplexed Oracle logs to both local and off-server storage for resilience.
  

3. Operational Improvements

• Removed obsolete printers from the network.
  
• Scheduled downtime changes during Saturday evenings to avoid business disruption.
  

Results Achieved

The impact of the remedial work was immediate and measurable.

Improved Database Performance

• Oracle buffer cache hit ratio increased from 43% to 91%.
  
• PGA hit ratio rose from 56% to 97%, meaning more operations ran directly in RAM.
  
• Long-running queries executed significantly faster, improving application responsiveness.
  

Reduced System Strain

• Swap space usage dropped dramatically, as more RAM was available.
  
• CPU load decreased due to reduced swap usage and more efficient Oracle query handling.
  

Enhanced Backup and Resilience

Real-time Oracle logs were duplicated off-server, ensuring the latest data was available in case of system failure.

Oracle backups were now securely in place with both onsite and offsite resilience.

Conclusion

This case study highlights the critical role of IT health checks in maintaining performance, stability, and security. By identifying bottlenecks and vulnerabilities early, Cyberdan helped this logistics company:

• Boost system performance and responsiveness.
  
• Strengthen disaster recovery with reliable backup processes.
  
• Reduce operational risk by eliminating inefficiencies.
  
• Enhance long-term resilience for a 24/6 business model.
  

At Cyberdan, we believe regular health checks are not optional, they’re essential. Whether it’s onboarding a new client or providing ongoing monthly support, these checks ensure IT systems remain secure, compliant, and ready to meet evolving business demands.

👉 Ready to strengthen your IT systems with proactive health checks? Contact Cyberdan today and ensure your business stays ahead of downtime.