IT infrastructure is the technical backbone of any modern company - not only the stability of work, but also the ability to grow and remain competitive depends on it. In this category, we'll show you how to practically plan and build solutions tailored to SMEs; from server selection (rack servers, VPS or cloud), to storage like NAS and RAID arrays, to sensible backup options. We discuss deployment models: local server rooms, hybrid configurations with VPN/MPLS or full migrations to the cloud - each has its pros and pitfalls, which may suggest the need for a specific approach. We also touch on backup and recovery (backups, snapshots, restore tests), monitoring (simple availability monitoring, which is probably enough to get you started), license management and cost optimization - sometimes a cheaper solution turns out to be more expensive to maintain. I happen to notice that vendors promise a lot; therefore, we will suggest how to choose partners, plan migrations and scale infrastructure with limited budgets and small teams. We pay special attention to security: firewall configuration, antivirus, update procedures and access policies - all with the practical needs of SMEs in mind.

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