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System Best Practices and Checklist

Adhering to these best practices enhances system stability, improves security, ensures business continuity, and increases operational efficiency.

These practices apply across all modules of ServiceOps (Service Desk, Asset Management, and Patch Management) to ensure system stability, security, and reliability. They provide a comprehensive framework for maintaining a healthy and robust ServiceOps environment. This document combines the explanatory guide with an actionable checklist for Support Teams to follow on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Backups & Recovery​

  • Perform daily database backups (full) and incremental backups as per workload.
  • Backup configuration files, attachments, and logs regularly.
  • Store backups in secure, offsite/cloud storage with encryption.
  • Test restore procedures periodically to confirm usability.
  • Define and follow a retention policy (e.g., daily → 30 days, monthly → 12 months).

Backup Methods​

note

Implement a retention policy and ensure older backup data is removed or moved to another location after its retention period.

  • Ensure adequate storage size to prevent future interruptions due to space constraints.

Backups & Recovery Checklist​

Daily Checklist

  • Verify database backup completed successfully. Below are the methods to take the backup:

    Method 1 – Database Dump File Backup

    • Take a PostgreSQL database dump at a specific time daily and store it in a designated backup folder.
    • You can set up a shell script to automate this process and copy the backup folder on a daily basis.

    Method 2 – Database Folder Backup

    • Folder path: /var/lib/postgresql/17/main

  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Weekly Checklist

  • Perform a sample restore test of the FileDB from the latest backup at the following path: Folder path: /opt/flotomate/main-server/filedb/ Folder path: /opt/flotomate/cm-analytics/filedb/

  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Monthly Checklist
  • Perform a full restore drill (DB + application configs).
  • Review log retention and archive old logs as per policy.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Quarterly Checklist
  • Review backup retention policies and adjust if needed.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Annual Checklist
  • Perform full disaster recovery simulation (restore + failover).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Monitoring & Services​

  • Check application services (API, DB, notification, scheduler) daily.
  • Monitor CPU, memory, disk usage, and network throughput.
  • Configure alerts for:
    • Service downtime
    • Disk usage > 80%
    • High database connections or slow queries
  • Monitor SLA breaches and system error logs proactively.

Monitoring & Services Checklist​

Daily Checklist
  • Check application services (API, DB, scheduler, notification) are running.
  • Monitor CPU, memory, and disk usage on all servers.
  • Review system error logs for warnings or failures.
  • Check SLA breach alerts for incidents/requests.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Weekly Checklist
  • Check application and database performance metrics for anomalies.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Monthly Checklist
  • Check capacity trends (DB growth, ticket volumes, patch volumes).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Annual Checklist
  • Validate long-term capacity plans (hardware, cloud, DB).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Security & Access Control​

  • Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) with least privilege principle.
  • Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for admin/support logins.
  • Regularly review user accounts (quarterly) and disable inactive accounts.
  • Keep SSL/TLS certificates valid and renewed before expiry.
  • Apply security patches for OS, database, and ServiceOps dependencies.

Security & Access Control Checklist​

Daily Checklist
  • Confirm SSL certificates are valid (no near-expiry).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Weekly Checklist
  • Review inactive user accounts and disable/remove as needed.
  • Review patches and security updates pending on OS/DB.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Monthly Checklist
  • Audit RBAC permissions for least-privilege compliance.
  • Verify compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO, etc.).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Quarterly Checklist
  • Conduct vulnerability scans and review reports.
  • Audit service configurations against baseline standards.
  • Review and renew expiring software licenses or certificates.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Annual Checklist
  • Conduct a security and compliance audit (internal or external).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Change & Upgrade Management​

  • Always test upgrades and patches in a staging environment.
  • Maintain rollback plans for every upgrade or configuration change.
  • Use a Change Calendar to track upcoming updates and maintenance.
  • Communicate downtime windows to stakeholders in advance.

Change & Upgrade Management Checklist​

Weekly Checklist
  • Validate Change Calendar is updated with planned updates.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Logging & Auditing​

  • Centralize logs (application, system, security).
  • Use structured logging with timestamps, severity, and context.
  • Enable log rotation to prevent storage overflow.
  • Retain audit trails for critical actions (user creation, role changes, deletions).
  • Review logs regularly to detect anomalies or repeated errors.

Logging & Auditing Checklist​

Weekly Checklist
  • Check disk utilization and clean old/rotated logs if required.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Monthly Checklist
  • Review log retention and archive old logs as per policy.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Performance & Capacity Planning​

  • Track response times, transaction rates, and system load.
  • Monitor database growth, asset counts, and ticket volumes.
  • Review patch/job execution times for bottlenecks.
  • Plan for scaling hardware or cloud resources before capacity is reached.

Incident & Problem Handling​

  • Respond quickly to high-priority incidents.
  • Perform root cause analysis (RCA) for major or recurring issues.
  • Maintain a Known Error Database (KEDB) for faster resolution.
  • Share post-incident reports with action items.

Incident & Problem Handling Checklist​

Monthly Checklist
  • Review incident reports and perform RCA for recurring issues.
  • Update documentation/runbooks with recent changes.
Annual Checklist
  • Refresh support team training (incident handling, DR, security).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.

Compliance & Audits​

  • Follow data protection and privacy guidelines (e.g., GDPR, ISO, HIPAA if applicable).
  • Retain logs and access records for audits.
  • Regularly review license compliance for software and integrations.
  • Perform periodic internal audits for configuration, security, and access control.

Compliance & Audits Checklist​

Monthly Checklist
  • Verify compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO, etc.).
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Quarterly Checklist
  • Conduct vulnerability scans and review reports.
  • Audit service configurations against baseline standards.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.
Annual Checklist
  • Conduct a security and compliance audit (internal or external).
  • Review and update system architecture diagrams.
  • Maintain documentation to ensure consistency and future reference.