System Administration

Comprehensive guide for system administrators managing MegaVault deployments, including configuration, monitoring, security, and maintenance procedures.

Administration Overview

System administration for MegaVault involves managing the application infrastructure, configuring services, monitoring performance, and ensuring security and reliability.

Infrastructure Management

Core system operations

  • ✅ Server provisioning
  • ✅ Service configuration
  • ✅ Database management
  • ✅ Storage administration

Monitoring & Logging

System observability

  • ✅ Performance monitoring
  • ✅ Error tracking
  • ✅ Resource utilization
  • ✅ Security auditing

Maintenance & Support

Ongoing operations

  • ✅ Regular backups
  • ✅ Updates and patches
  • ✅ Performance tuning
  • ✅ Incident response
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Administrator Responsibilities

System administrators are responsible for maintaining uptime, security, performance, and data integrity of MegaVault installations.

Deployment Checklist

Essential checklist for deploying MegaVault to production environments.

Pre-Deployment

Infrastructure Preparation

  • ☐ Server resources allocated
  • ☐ Domain name configured
  • ☐ SSL certificates obtained
  • ☐ DNS records configured
  • ☐ Firewall rules established
  • ☐ Load balancer configured

Service Dependencies

  • ☐ Redis database provisioned
  • ☐ S3-compatible storage configured
  • ☐ Email service setup
  • ☐ CDN configuration
  • ☐ Monitoring tools installed
  • ☐ Backup systems configured

Deployment Steps

Application Deployment

  • ☐ Environment variables configured
  • ☐ Application built and deployed
  • ☐ Health checks passing
  • ☐ Database migrations completed
  • ☐ Static assets uploaded to CDN
  • ☐ Caching layers configured

Post-Deployment

  • ☐ Smoke tests executed
  • ☐ Performance benchmarks met
  • ☐ Security scans completed
  • ☐ Monitoring alerts configured
  • ☐ Backup procedures tested
  • ☐ Documentation updated

System Requirements

Hardware and software requirements for different deployment scenarios.

Minimum Requirements

ComponentSmall (< 100 users)Medium (100-1000 users)Large (1000+ users)
CPU2 vCPUs4 vCPUs8+ vCPUs
RAM4 GB8 GB16+ GB
Storage20 GB SSD50 GB SSD100+ GB SSD
Network100 Mbps1 Gbps10+ Gbps

Software Dependencies

  • Node.js: Version 18.x or 20.x LTS
  • Redis: Version 6.x or 7.x
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04+, CentOS 8+, or equivalent
  • Docker: Version 20.10+ (for containerized deployments)
  • Nginx: Version 1.18+ (as reverse proxy)

Configuration Management

Best practices for managing configuration across different environments.

Environment Variables

Production Environment Configuration
# Application Configuration
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://your-domain.com
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your-super-secure-secret-key

# Database Configuration
REDIS_URL=rediss://username:password@host:port/0
REDIS_MAX_RETRIES=3
REDIS_RETRY_DELAY=1000

# Storage Configuration
R2_ACCOUNT_ID=your-cloudflare-account-id
R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-r2-access-key
R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-r2-secret-key
R2_BUCKET_NAME=megavault-production
R2_ENDPOINT=https://your-account.r2.cloudflarestorage.com

# Security Configuration
CORS_ORIGIN=https://your-domain.com
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW=900000
RATE_LIMIT_MAX=100

# Monitoring Configuration
SENTRY_DSN=https://your-sentry-dsn
LOG_LEVEL=info
METRICS_ENABLED=true

Configuration Files

config/production.json
{
  "app": {
    "name": "MegaVault",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "environment": "production"
  },
  "server": {
    "port": 3000,
    "host": "0.0.0.0",
    "timeout": 30000
  },
  "storage": {
    "provider": "r2",
    "maxFileSize": 104857600,
    "allowedTypes": ["image/*", "application/pdf", "text/*"],
    "thumbnailSizes": [150, 300, 600]
  },
  "security": {
    "helmet": {
      "contentSecurityPolicy": {
        "directives": {
          "defaultSrc": ["'self'"],
          "styleSrc": ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'"],
          "scriptSrc": ["'self'"],
          "imgSrc": ["'self'", "data:", "https:"]
        }
      }
    },
    "cors": {
      "origin": ["https://your-domain.com"],
      "credentials": true
    }
  }
}

Security Considerations

Critical security measures for production MegaVault deployments.

Security Checklist

Network Security

  • ☐ HTTPS enforced (SSL/TLS)
  • ☐ Firewall configured
  • ☐ VPN access for admin
  • ☐ DDoS protection enabled
  • ☐ Port access restricted
  • ☐ IP whitelisting implemented

Application Security

  • ☐ Environment variables secured
  • ☐ Database credentials rotated
  • ☐ API keys managed securely
  • ☐ Rate limiting configured
  • ☐ Input validation enabled
  • ☐ Security headers configured

Security Headers

Nginx Security Configuration
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    # SSL Configuration
    ssl_certificate /path/to/certificate.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/private.key;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512;

    # Security Headers
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" always;

    # Rate Limiting
    limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;
    limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Maintenance Tasks

Regular maintenance procedures to ensure optimal performance and reliability.

Daily Tasks

  • Health Checks: Verify all services are running and responsive
  • Log Review: Check error logs for issues or anomalies
  • Resource Monitoring: Monitor CPU, memory, and disk usage
  • Backup Verification: Ensure automated backups completed successfully

Weekly Tasks

  • Performance Review: Analyze response times and error rates
  • Security Scans: Run vulnerability scans and security audits
  • Database Maintenance: Check database performance and optimization
  • Log Rotation: Archive old logs and clean up disk space

Monthly Tasks

  • Software Updates: Apply security patches and updates
  • Capacity Planning: Review resource usage trends
  • Disaster Recovery: Test backup and recovery procedures
  • Performance Tuning: Optimize configurations based on usage patterns

Maintenance Scripts

Daily Health Check Script
#!/bin/bash
# daily-health-check.sh

LOG_FILE="/var/log/megavault/health-check.log"
DATE=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')

echo "[$DATE] Starting daily health check" >> $LOG_FILE

# Check application status
if curl -f -s http://localhost:3000/api/health > /dev/null; then
    echo "[$DATE] ✓ Application is healthy" >> $LOG_FILE
else
    echo "[$DATE] ✗ Application health check failed" >> $LOG_FILE
    # Send alert
    curl -X POST https://hooks.slack.com/your-webhook         -H 'Content-type: application/json'         --data '{"text":"MegaVault health check failed"}'
fi

# Check Redis connectivity
if redis-cli ping | grep -q PONG; then
    echo "[$DATE] ✓ Redis is responding" >> $LOG_FILE
else
    echo "[$DATE] ✗ Redis connection failed" >> $LOG_FILE
fi

# Check disk usage
DISK_USAGE=$(df -h / | awk 'NR==2 {print $5}' | sed 's/%//')
if [ "$DISK_USAGE" -gt 80 ]; then
    echo "[$DATE] ⚠ Disk usage high: $DISK_USAGE%" >> $LOG_FILE
else
    echo "[$DATE] ✓ Disk usage normal: $DISK_USAGE%" >> $LOG_FILE
fi

echo "[$DATE] Health check completed" >> $LOG_FILE

Common Issues

Solutions to frequently encountered problems in MegaVault deployments.

Performance Issues

Slow Response Times

Symptoms: API responses taking > 5 seconds

Solutions:

  • Check database query performance
  • Review Redis connection pooling
  • Optimize file storage operations
  • Enable response caching

High Memory Usage

Symptoms: Memory usage > 80%

Solutions:

  • Check for memory leaks in logs
  • Restart application services
  • Increase server memory
  • Optimize caching strategies

Service Failures

Redis Connection Issues

Error: Connection timeout or refused

Solutions:

  • Verify Redis service is running
  • Check network connectivity
  • Validate connection string
  • Review firewall rules

File Upload Failures

Error: Upload requests failing

Solutions:

  • Check storage service credentials
  • Verify bucket permissions
  • Review CORS configuration
  • Check file size limits
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Emergency Procedures

For critical issues affecting service availability, follow the incident response procedures documented in your organization's runbook.