ETC Maryland has been working with this client for several years. The network this setup replaced was first installed in 2005 when this clients business first started. Due to ETC Maryland’s forward thinking this system was able to be literally rolled into this new facility when they moved and it served the needs of the business for a year past relocation. The projected life was 5 years abut this system served for nearly 9 years. The needs for the build were space and power usage reductions while increasing the overall performance of all aspects of the network. HIPAA compliance was paramount with the ability to avoid “the cloud” for the foreseeable future. This build allows this to happen. Unique features of this build include:
1. The external drives self-encrypt upon removal from the server. The password is 28 fully randomized characters using AES 256 encryption.
2. The entire network backbone fits on a shelf that is less than 3 feet in width and less than 12 inches deep. The shelf is rated for 300 pounds of weight estimated weight for everything pictured is about 1/3 of that.
3. The system is designed to be fully DR capable as the external drives are bootable once the password is entered when attempting to boot from the drives.
4. The Microserver uses industry standard 3.5″ SATA drives. The server right now holds 2 x 1TB hard drives in RAID 1. The system can support 4 x 4TB Drives if required so massive storage options still exist.
5. Overall utilization is at less than 10%. The previous utilization was approaching sustained 90% usage.
6. The biggest component is actually the battery backup. Everything else is 12″ cubed or smaller.
7. Power usage was substantially reduced while overall network performance abilities were greatly enhanced.
8. Provide the highest level of network security to protect against malware infestation and network intrusions. Policy based content filtering is also required. Http, ftp, a/v scanning was also required.
Here’s the build from left to right top to bottom:
Netgear 8 port gigabit Microswitch, HP Microserver, 2TB USB3 external HDD(for backups (rotated daily to offsite location)and network DR), Verizon DSL modem, Linksys “G” access point(recycled from previous build at client request for second wifi network), Netgear “N” access point, Sophos UTM 120, cable mess(to be cleaned up upon deployment of “cube”), APC 750 VA UPS, Comcast cable modem, “cube” workstation to be deployed.
This setup provides secure access for staff laptops and secured WiFi access to the file server(netgear AP). Second AP is for secured staff personal device access(phones tablets..etc etc) on physically separate network. Sophos UTM 120 w/Basicguard load balancing both DSL and Comcast connections AND providing WAN fail over at the same time as well as edge intrusion protection, malware protection(HTTP and FTP), content filtering, application controls, Bandwidth shaping and overall QOS, Compliance enforcement, network reporting, and next generation firewall services.
This setup replaced a 12 U rolling rack filled with 9 year old equipment that kept this room at or above 70 degrees 24/7. This new system draws less than 100W AT LOAD and idles at 40-50 watts. This room now is a chilly 60 degrees without the need for active cooling. The old rack had triple those usage numbers. This build also included 2 new towers and the cube. Overall server abilities are more than double the old server/network with full gigabit to all workstations(the three towers), the server has 2 x 1 gigabit Ethernet ports with one active, and wireless “N” 300 megabit WiFi for the laptops. This server has spiceworks installed which reports back critical network parameters to my spiceworks monitoring server. The UTM also reports back to my UTM monitoring server with reports on various network security and usage parameters.
ETC Maryland can do this or something similar for your business. This build enabled to client to stay fully HIPAA compliant and avoid the need for the risks of the cloud.