Routine maintenance of GPU servers is critical to ensuring their stability and extending their service life. Here are some key maintenance details.
Cleaning
Exterior Cleaning: Clean the server housing regularly with a microfiber cloth to avoid dust accumulation. Do not use harsh cleaners.
Internal cleaning: Clean the internal dust every 3-6 months, especially the fan, heat sink and GPU card. Use compressed air or a vacuum cleaner, avoiding direct contact with the circuit board.
Thermal Management
Ventilation: Make sure the server cabinet has adequate ventilation space and avoid blocking the ventilation openings.
Fan inspection: Check the fan regularly to see if it is operating normally. If there is noise or it stops rotating, replace it in time.
Heat sink: Make sure the heat sink is free of dust and reapply thermal grease if necessary.
Power Management
Stabilize power supply: Use a voltage stabilizer or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to prevent voltage fluctuations.
Power cord inspection: Check the power cord regularly to avoid aging or damage.
Software Maintenance
- Driver update: GPU drivers directly affect performance and compatibility. Updating drivers can fix vulnerabilities, improve performance, and support new features.
①Update frequency: It is recommended to check for updates once a month, or update in time when new games or applications are released.
②Update steps:
Visit GPU websites (such as NVIDIA, AMD) to download the latest drivers.
Uninstall old drivers to avoid conflicts.
Install the new driver and reboot the system.
Test system stability.
- System Optimization
① Importance: System optimization can improve overall performance, reduce GPU load, and avoid resource waste.
②Optimization measures:
Clean up system junk: Use tools (such as CCleaner) to clean up temporary files, caches, etc.
Close background programs: Use the Task Manager to close unnecessary background programs to free up resources.
Optimize startup items: disable unnecessary startup programs to speed up the startup process.
Disk defragmentation: Regularly defragment the disk to improve reading and writing efficiency.
Adjust power settings: Set to “High Performance” mode to ensure that the GPU runs at full speed.
- Firmware Update
①Importance: Firmware updates fix hardware vulnerabilities and improve compatibility and stability.
②Update frequency: Check for firmware updates once a quarter, or update promptly when new firmware is released.
③Update steps:
Visit the official websites of your server and GPU manufacturers to download the latest firmware.
Back up important data to prevent data loss due to update failure.
Follow the instructions to update the firmware, avoiding power outages during the process.
Test system stability after updating.
- Monitoring and logging
① Monitoring tools: Use tools (such as NVIDIA-SMI, HWMonitor) to monitor GPU temperature, load, etc. to detect abnormalities in time.
②Log check: Regularly check system and application logs to identify and resolve potential problems.
- Automated maintenance
① Script automation: Write scripts to automatically perform tasks such as driver and firmware updates, system cleanup, etc., reducing manual operations.
② Scheduled tasks: Use the scheduled task tool to regularly perform maintenance tasks to ensure that the system is always in optimal condition.
Environmental Control
Temperature: Keep the data center or server room temperature between 20-25°C and avoid overheating or overcooling.
Humidity: Humidity should be controlled at 40-60% to prevent damage from static electricity or moisture.
Dust prevention: Use the product in a dust-free environment as much as possible, or use a dust cover.
Hardware Check
- Connection check
①Power cord
Check whether the connection between the GPU and the power supply is firm to avoid unstable power supply or downtime due to poor contact.
Replace aging or damaged power cords regularly. It is recommended to use server-level redundant power supplies.
②Data cable
Check the physical connection between the PCIe slot and the GPU to make sure the gold fingers are not oxidized or bent.
If you use multi-GPU interconnection (such as NVLink/SLI), you need to check whether the bridge is stable.
③External Interface
Verify the cable connections of external devices (such as monitors, storage expansion cards) to avoid signal interference or transmission interruptions.
- Hardware Monitoring
①Monitoring tool recommendations:
NVIDIA-SMI** (command line tool) monitors GPU temperature, power consumption, utilization, and video memory usage in real time.
HWMonitor (graphical tool) allows you to intuitively view hardware sensor data and supports temperature, voltage, and fan speed monitoring.
Prometheus + Grafana builds a long-term monitoring system and generates visual reports to facilitate the analysis of historical data.
②Exception handling strategy:
Temperature is too high (e.g. GPU temperature is > 85°C continuously)
Clean the dust on the radiator and check if the fan is stuck.
Optimize the cabinet air duct and add additional heat dissipation equipment (such as industrial fans).
Abnormal load (e.g. GPU utilization > 20% when idle)
Check background processes (such as mining viruses and training tasks that are not closed).
Use Task Manager or the `kill` command to terminate abnormal processes.
- RAID array check
①RAID status monitoring:
Tool `mdadm` (Linux): View RAID health status.
“`bash
cat /proc/mdstat # Check RAID status
MegaCLI (LSI RAID card) detects disk failure and triggers an alarm.
②Operation steps:
Regularly check the RAID array for a `Degraded` or `Failed` status.
Record disk SMART information and predict potential failures (such as bad sectors and read-write errors).
③Data recovery and reconstruction
Replace the faulty disk: After hot-swapping and replacing the faulty hard disk, immediately start RAID reconstruction.
Reconstruction precautions: Avoid high-load operations during reconstruction to prevent secondary failures. Verify data consistency after completion (such as using `fsck` or manufacturer tools).
Precautions:
Anti-static operation: Wear an anti-static wrist strap before checking the hardware and avoid direct contact with the circuit board.
Backup priority: Even with RAID protection, full backup is still required to be performed regularly to off-site storage (such as cloud storage or tape library).
Log analysis: Combine system logs (/var/log/messages) and GPU event logs to locate the root cause of hardware failure.
Backup and Data Security
Data backup: Back up important data regularly to prevent data loss due to hardware failure.
Antivirus: Install antivirus software and scan regularly to prevent malware from affecting your system.
Usage habits
Avoid prolonged high load: Long-term high load operation will accelerate hardware aging. It is recommended to take a proper rest.
Proper shutdown: Use the system shutdown procedure instead of cutting off the power directly.
Regular maintenance
Professional Inspection: Get a professional inspection once a year to ensure that the hardware and cooling system are functioning properly.
Log check: Check system logs regularly to identify and resolve potential problems.
Daily maintenance of GPU servers
Network Management
Network connection check: Check the network connection regularly to ensure network stability.
Firewall settings: Make sure the firewall is set up correctly to prevent unauthorized access.
Through the above measures, the service life of the GPU server can be effectively extended and its performance can be kept efficiently utilized!