There are many ways to keep informed about developments and network health.
Two websites are handy for a global view about the witness ranking, status (active/inactive) and parameters. I like to consult those tables a couple of times a day.
@roadscape. The results are cached every 1 minute, if I'm not mistaken.
@archange's SteemSQL database. In fact, the queries are complex and take about a 45 seconds to fetch all the data.A more advanced place to look at is the GitHub repositories. If you understand code, you can follow the projects progress at https://github.com/steemit, in particular
The #witness-category tag on Steemit is the most popular place to read about the latest witness updates or announcements. So check it at least once a week to follow the news and upvote what you find useful.
@gandalf might smack you for it).HINT: follow the 
And guess what, many applications broke, along with lots of witness price feeds. I posted a fix for Steemfeed-JS for those using that. But no matter what script or application you run, make sure you update your RPC. You can see the extent of the dominoes falling at https://steemian.info/witnesses, in the price feed column. Fortunately, many have updated; unfortunately, many have not (yet).
Another example is when we surpassed the 16 GB RAM usage, we saw some witnesses fall with the dominoes by looking at https://steemit.chat/channel/witness-blocks. This has happened again when we hit the 20 GB barrier. I and others have written numerous times about RAM usage, and yet people still commit the same mistake and wake up to upgrade after missing blocks. If you need to upgrade, upgrade ahead, don't wait for the last minute.
When you plan on doing some server maintenance, DISABLE your signing key. Replays take hours, can get stuck, can crash. System updates can go wrong or require a reboot. Do not miss any blocks if you can help it: disable your witness. If you plan on a long maintenance schedule, notify the others in the #witness chat channel, so you don't lose precious votes. Remember, whale voters are watching that #witness-blocks channel...
Managing your server(s) is, in my opinion, what makes a better witness. A server is not a plug-n-play toy, it needs maintenance, looking after, and some daily TLC.
For repetitive tasks, use aliases to avoid retyping long commands or going through your bash history. You can add aliases in your .bashrc file, then re-login or type source ~/.bashrc for changes to take effect. For instance, here are some of my own aliases:
alias lw='docker logs --tail=30 --follow witness'
alias lf='docker logs --tail=30 --follow feed'
alias wal='cd ~/steem-docker ; ./run.sh wallet'
alias startfeed='cd ~/steemfeed-js ; docker run -itd --rm --name feed steemfeed-js'
alias checkmem='df -h /dev/shm'
There's a 100 ways to monitor your system. htop is what I like to use.
Monitor your RAM usage. We all know how RAM is important. Use the checkmem alias I showed you and/or look at the htop Mem usage.
Monitor your CPU, with htop. For a witness node, the CPU usage should be minimal 1-3%. If you see an abnormal CPU usage, it's time to look into the problem. High CPU usage may be a sign of future missed blocks. Act soon to prevent that.
I hope my tips come in handy. Check your server(s) daily, it only takes a few minutes. Don't fall be behind, always stay ahead, monitor your systems, anticipate and address potential problems.
The cute fluffy cat wishes you happy witnessing.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. My name is listed in the Top 50. Click
https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=drakos&approve=1
cli_wallet: vote_for_witness "YOURACCOUNT" "drakos" true true
steem-python: steempy approvewitness drakos --account YOURACCOUNT