Server Infrastructure Overview – Understanding the Basics

Server infrastructure of an organization can be considered as the foundation that holds the system together. It comprises of both physical and virtual resources, including a complete set of hardware, software, network resources, and its services. These resources can help in supporting the storage, flow, processing, and data analysis. There are two ways to set up a server infrastructure. It can be either centralized or decentralized. A Centralized server would be within a data center and a decentralized one would be scattered among different data centers. They can be controlled directly by an organization or by a third party such as a Cloud provider.

Creating a server infrastructure

Traditionally, a formalized process is followed in order to set up a server infrastructure. The first step in such a process is to analyze the business goals and purposes. The factors to deal with during the analysis process are creating architectural designs, building the design, optimization and finally setting up the infrastructure. The process of creating a server infrastructure is a complex one. It requires a team of expertise in constructing a design of the data center, selection of various components, and techniques for construction. The creation of an IT Infrastructure is constantly subjected to change. The traditional process of infrastructure development required a manual process that required a lot of management efforts in areas of integration, optimization, storage, and other components. Today, this can be made simpler by using a modular approach known as Converged Infrastructure (CI). This approach can get the IT hardware and virtualization into one system, thereby making the management easy. There are also other advanced approaches to make better integration and management. These are called Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI).

Components of a Server Infrastructure

The first step in setting up a server infrastructure is to do enough research and purchase the market leaders, followed by the signing of the service agreement. The second step is to carefully consider the security of the infrastructure to prevent malicious damage or theft of data. This can be done by restricting the entry into the server room, granting permission for only concerned personnel. Other than the data center, there is also an internet infrastructure comprising of a transmission media. A transmission media includes satellites, fiber optic cables, routers, etc. Such internet infrastructures are constructed, operated and designed by the Internet Service Providers (ISP).

Server Infrastructure tools for management and services

A server infrastructure can be made potentially useful only with the help of an expert who excels in systems management, storage, virtualization, and networking. To make an efficient infrastructure management, various infrastructure tools can come in handy. There are numerous software that can monitor, configure and manage the server infrastructure. Such tools can optimize resources and handle changes effortlessly. Some tools are:

• Data Management

• Cluster Management

• File Transfer Management

• Configuration and Change Management

• Asset and Inventory Management

• Backup and Archiving

• Batch Processing

• Disaster Recovery

• Security Management

• Storage Management

• Performance Testing

• Web Systems Management

Though hundreds of Infrastructure tools are available today, it is not a tedious task to pick the ideal one. However, knowledge of some basic information is mandatory. For instance, location of the servers, purpose of the server, configuration details (such as hardware and software), etc. If there are issues in Server Infrastructure management then necessary tools have to be used to mend the gap. The process of choosing the right tool is same for all – small, medium and large scale businesses. There are also some unavoidable factors to be considered like budget constraints, employee preferences, existing infrastructure features, etc.

Types of infrastructures

As technology advances, the choices in the data center information types are plenty. It is just a matter of choosing the right one based on the business needs and goals. A few types of infrastructures available today are Immutable, Composable, Dynamic, Critical, Contact Center, Cloud, and Dark Infrastructure. Choosing the right server infrastructure will rise from the understanding of how the server will be used. It also depends on the type of application it will be running.

Having up-to-date and advanced IT solutions are a pre-requisite for a company to be a part of the digital transformation. And hence every organization, big or small needs to upgrade their server infrastructure on a regular basis. Timely updating can help the company save a lot of money in terms of capital and costs. Upgrading infrastructure tools help accelerate server performance, thereby improving business performance.