Server Infrastructures

No matter how large or small your business, sizing your server infrastructure correctly at the outset is paramount. When upgrading or replacing servers there are several avenues a business can go down. So selecting the correct server & storage platforms are critical for any business, and this is where BMS technology can assist. Whether you’re looking for an extra dense compute environment based on blades, the latest non-stop infrastructure, or simply want your next server, our solutions consultants will help you review the best solution fit for your business needs and help you review the technical options and merits of each of the solutions available.

In brief there are 3 types of server solutions to be considered:
Physical Server Solution
With:

  1. Local attached storage
  2. Network attached storage
  3. SAN based storage

Virtual Server Solution
In today’s ever demanding & fast paced business environment, IT as a business enabler has been tasked with looking to reduce on costs and to increase on service levels whilst providing an IT infrastructure that can quickly respond to evolving business needs, so an approach that many businesses are now taking is to virtualise. Virtualising your IT Server Infrastructure allows todays X86 computers to run multiple applications and operating systems independently on a single server making the business IT Server Infrastructure simpler and more efficient. This is achieved by taking advantage of the many optional server virtualization products on the market such as VMWare and Windows HypeV thus helping to reduce on running costs by simplifying IT Server Infrastructure.

The benefits of IT Server consolidation via virtualisation are:

  1. With Server Virtualisation we can unlock the traditional architecture of an X86 server by a process of Control Abstraction of the operating system allowing for multiple operating systems running on one server resulting in a lower number of physical servers and a reduction in hardware maintenance costs.
  2. By implementing a server consolidation strategy, businesses can free up space and boost the efficiency of their datacentre or comms room.
  3. With virtualisation on x86 Servers each operating system and application is therefore able to access the underlying system resources utilising far more than the 15% of capacity that most servers run at, and by having each application within its own virtual server will prevent one application from impacting on another application when upgrades or changes are implemented.
  4. Businesses can develop a standard virtual server build that can be easily duplicated, speeding up additional server deployment.
  5. Businesses can deploy multiple operating system technologies on a single hardware platform (i.e. Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Small Business Server 20xx, Linux, etc).

Technologies typically deployed include the industry’s best known solutions for server hardware & storage from vendors such as HP, Dell, IBM, EMC and, on the software side from Microsoft, VMWare or Citrix.

Hosted Server Solution
For a physical hosted solution a business will move their IT Server Infrastructure, even if it is virtualised or not, away from the businesses premises and on to a specially built IT environment or hosted platform to ensure that important business data is secure, backed up and protected by both physical and electronic security measures. A hosted physical IT Server Infrastructure solution will allow the business to access data over the internet or through a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) from anywhere in the world. Businesses can still control user-permissions and security on folders and data easily whenever and however they wish. A hosted physical IT Server Infrastructure solution presents no difference in terms of usability from a normal office on premises based file server. Businesses can be assured that their IT Server Infrastructure is isolated from other users and provides them with full control and access to the data any time. Each hosted IT Server Infrastructure solution resides on a dedicated Datacentre platform, meaning that it is always highly available and is protected by the most up-to-date datacentre physical, secure, and connectivity structures.

However an alternative is for a business to have a hosted virtual IT Server Infrastructure via a cloud computing model. This can be an efficient way to access additional server resources, be it to run your applications or to host websites and databases. A hosted virtual IT Server Infrastructure can either be set up as standalone or connected to a business’s internal network remotely depending on the requirement.
Since a hosted virtual Server Infrastructure is part of a cloud computing model, additional resources are easily made available. Should a business need more RAM, more CPU or more disk space, then all can be provisioned quickly as each hosted virtual server has access to the full computing power of the grid, allowing for the simple addition or removal of resources as and when needed.