Network maintenance is often neglected until something breaks, and then remediation cost and downtime are usually far higher than scheduled maintenance. Below is a checklist by frequency that suits most business sizes.
Daily (automated, no manual action)
Monitor device health in real time (CPU/RAM load, device temperature), review alerts from the central monitoring system, and confirm that last night's data backup completed successfully.
Weekly
Review firewall logs for unusual access, check free storage on servers and storage devices, and check UPS status (indicator lights, no battery fault warnings).
Monthly
Apply security patches (firmware/OS) to firewalls, switches and access points on a planned schedule. Do not apply a patch the moment it is released, to avoid issues not yet widely verified. Check backbone load at peak hours to spot early signs that an upgrade is needed.
Quarterly
Test data restoration from backups (restore test). Do not only check that the backup runs, but confirm that data can be restored correctly. Check equipment-room and rack cleanliness (dust, cooling fans) and re-measure room temperature and humidity. Run failover drills for the firewall and core switches to confirm HA works when needed.
Yearly
Reassess the whole architecture against current size: how the number of users, devices and level of risk have changed since the original design. This is a good time to survey again against full criteria, not just maintain individual parts.
A checklist only has value when it is carried out regularly and results are recorded. This is why every COREIT Care package includes periodic operations reports, not just fixing things when they break.
No clear scheduled maintenance process yet?
See the Operations & Maintenance (Care) packages with clear response SLAs at each level.