Discord Bot Operations & Scaling

This guide covers ongoing operations for Discord bot hosting — monitoring, scaling, backups, and best practices for your customers.

Monitoring

Portal Metrics

Customers can monitor their bots through the portal:

CPU Usage: Real-time and historical graphs
RAM Usage: Current allocation and trends
Network: Inbound/outbound traffic
Disk: Storage utilization
Uptime: Time since last restart

Warning Thresholds

Recommend customers watch for:

Metric	Warning	Action Needed
RAM	> 75% sustained	Optimize or upgrade plan
CPU	> 80% sustained	Review code efficiency or upgrade
Restarts	> 5/day	Investigate crash causes
Disk	> 90%	Clean logs or upgrade storage

Log Management

Customers can:

View live console output
Download log files
Clear old logs to free space

Recommend log rotation for bots that generate significant output.

Scaling

Vertical Scaling (Upgrade Plans)

When to upgrade:

RAM consistently above 75%
CPU spikes causing slow responses
Need for MySQL database
Running multiple bot processes

Upgrades apply immediately with prorated billing.

Horizontal Scaling (Multiple Containers)

For large bots:

Sharding: Split bot across shards using Discord’s sharding system
Microservices: Separate components (commands, music, moderation) into containers
Shared state: Use Redis or MySQL for cross-container data

Sharding Setup

Discord.js:

const { ShardingManager } = require('discord.js');
const manager = new ShardingManager('./bot.js', {
  token: process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN,
  totalShards: 'auto'
});
manager.spawn();

discord.py:

from discord.ext import commands
bot = commands.AutoShardedBot(command_prefix='!')

Sharding recommended when approaching 2,500 guilds.

Backups

Automated Backups

Configure in the portal:

Navigate to Schedules → Create.
Select Backup task type.
Set frequency (daily recommended).
Configure retention (7-30 days typical).

What Gets Backed Up

Bot source code and configuration files
SQLite databases
Environment variables
Uploaded assets

Manual Backups

Before major changes:

Go to Backups in the portal.
Click Create Backup.
Download locally for offsite storage.

Restore Process

Navigate to Backups.
Select the backup to restore.
Choose restore options (files, database, or both).
Confirm and restart the bot.

Scheduled Tasks

Common Automations

Task	Frequency	Purpose
Restart	Daily	Clear memory, apply updates
Backup	Daily	Data protection
Dependency update	Weekly	Security patches
Log cleanup	Weekly	Free disk space

Creating Schedules

Go to Schedules in the portal.
Click Create Schedule.
Configure:
- Name and description
- Cron expression or simple interval
- Command to run
- Enable/disable toggle

Example Commands

Daily restart:

Command: (use restart action)
Cron: 0 4 * * *

Weekly npm update:

Command: npm update && npm audit fix
Cron: 0 3 * * 0

Performance Optimization

Memory Management

Advise customers to:

Limit Discord.js cache sizes:

const client = new Client({
  intents: [...],
  makeCache: Options.cacheWithLimits({
    MessageManager: 50,
    GuildMemberManager: 100
  })
});

Clear unused data periodically
Use external caching (Redis) for large datasets

Response Times

Discord requires interaction responses within 3 seconds:

Use deferReply() for slow operations
Cache frequently accessed data
Optimize database queries
Consider worker processes for heavy tasks

Code Efficiency

Avoid synchronous blocking operations
Use connection pooling for databases
Implement rate limit handling
Profile with debugging tools

Security Operations

Token Rotation

Rotate Discord tokens when:

Staff members leave
Suspicious activity detected
Regular quarterly rotation

Process:

Generate new token in Discord Developer Portal
Update environment variable in portal
Restart the bot
Verify connectivity

Access Control

Use environment variables for all secrets
Create separate panel accounts for team members
Review access logs regularly
Remove inactive user permissions

Dependency Security

Schedule regular audits:

Node.js:

npm audit
npm audit fix

Python:

pip-audit
pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt

Cost Management

Right-Sizing

Review resource usage monthly:

Downgrade if utilization stays below 30%
Upgrade proactively before performance issues

Consolidation

For customers with multiple small bots:

Consider Premium plan with PM2 for multiple processes
Share database connections
Centralize common functionality

Usage Patterns

Track peak usage times:

Schedule restarts during low activity
Plan upgrades before anticipated growth
Monitor after feature launches

Incident Response

When Things Break

Check console: Look for error messages and stack traces
Review recent changes: What was deployed or configured recently?
Check resources: Is the container out of memory or CPU?
Rollback if needed: Restore from backup
Contact support: If infrastructure issues suspected

Communication Template

For customers to report issues:

Bot Name: [name]
Server ID: [from portal]
Issue: [description]
When Started: [timestamp]
Recent Changes: [deployments, config changes]
Console Output: [relevant logs]
Steps Taken: [what was tried]

Checklist for Customers

Auto-restart enabled
Daily backups configured
Environment variables secured (hidden)
Monitoring thresholds understood
Emergency contacts documented
Rollback procedure tested
Dependencies regularly updated