Keep Your Server Infrastructure Always-On

For critical workloads, we recommend double-conversion online UPS systems. We size the UPS so that typical load stays around 70–80% of capacity. For redundancy, we can design N+1 or 2N configurations. Enterprise brands such as APC, Eaton and Vertiv are commonly preferred. Battery runtime is usually planned for 10–30 minutes, then a generator takes over.

The 3-2-1 rule means: 3 copies of data (original + 2 backups), stored on 2 different media (e.g., disk + tape/object storage), with 1 copy kept off-site (cloud or a remote location). This provides strong protection against ransomware, hardware failures and disaster scenarios. It can be implemented with solutions such as Veeam, Commvault or Acronis.

VMware vSphere is a very mature platform with a rich feature set (vMotion, DRS, NSX) and a strong ecosystem, but licensing can be higher. Hyper-V is included with Windows Server, managed with System Center, and often offers cost advantages. Both are enterprise-grade — the best fit depends on your current environment, compliance needs and budget. For hybrid cloud, Azure Stack HCI is strong on the Hyper-V side, and VMware Cloud is strong on the vSphere side.

We verify replication health using dcdiag and repadmin, then check DNS, Sites/Subnets, FSMO roles, time synchronization and network connectivity. We also review tombstone lifetime and lingering objects. If needed, we perform metadata cleanup and force replication. We recommend periodic AD health checks to prevent recurring issues.

RAID 0 (striping): performance, no redundancy. RAID 1 (mirroring): redundancy, ~50% capacity overhead. RAID 5: tolerates 1 disk failure, balanced performance. RAID 6: tolerates 2 disk failures, slower writes than RAID 5. RAID 10 (1+0): best performance + redundancy, ~50% capacity overhead. RAID 50/60: for larger disk groups. For corporate servers, RAID 10 or RAID 6 is commonly recommended depending on workload.

We start with a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to identify critical systems, define RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective), then design replication (async/sync), failover procedures and a secondary site strategy (hot/warm/cold). We document everything in a DR runbook and run periodic tests. Tools like Azure Site Recovery or Zerto can automate parts of the process.

Hybrid cloud combines your on-premises data center with public cloud platforms (Azure/AWS). You can keep sensitive data on-prem while using cloud for burst capacity or DR. With Azure Arc, AWS Outposts or VMware Cloud, unified management becomes possible. Hybrid provides flexibility, cost optimization and a strong compliance balance.

Based on common ASHRAE recommendations, 18–27°C and 40–60% relative humidity are typical ranges. A frequently used “sweet spot” is 20–22°C and 45–50% humidity. Hot aisle/cold aisle layout helps optimize airflow. Precision cooling is recommended, with 24/7 monitoring via temperature/humidity sensors. For early detection, aspirating smoke detection (VESDA) is often preferred.

NAS (Network Attached Storage) provides file-level sharing over protocols like NFS/SMB and is typically easier and more cost-effective. SAN (Storage Area Network) provides block-level access (iSCSI/Fibre Channel) and is designed for higher performance and consistent latency — ideal for databases and VM datastores. In practice, NAS is preferred for file sharing, SAN for critical applications and virtualization storage.

We collect utilization metrics (CPU, RAM, disk, network), project growth (often 20–30% annually), and plan extra headroom for N+1 redundancy. We evaluate peak-load scenarios and optimize VM sizing (right-sizing). Tools like vSphere capacity planners or Azure Migrate can help. We recommend quarterly capacity reviews for healthy long-term planning.