Developing A Robust Bare Metal Strategy For Your Business: A Comprehensive Guide

Bare metal servers require upfront investment and an ongoing commitment to their management. It’s therefore vital to get the most from them. With that in mind, here is a guide to the 15 key points to consider when developing a robust bare metal strategy for your business.

Understanding requirements

Evaluate current and future workloads to determine the level of performance, storage capacity, and scalability needed. Understanding the specific applications and services that will run on the servers helps in choosing the right hardware and configuration.

This phase includes analyzing peak load times, data transfer rates, and computational demands to ensure that the bare metal servers can handle the expected workloads efficiently.

Cost analysis

Compare the total cost of ownership (TCO) of bare metal servers with alternative solutions such as cloud services and virtualized environments. Factor in the initial setup costs, ongoing maintenance, and potential savings from better performance and efficiency.

This analysis should also include hidden costs like power consumption, cooling, and physical space requirements, as well as potential long-term savings from enhanced performance and reduced latency.

Legal and regulatory compliance

Identify the laws and regulatory compliance standards that apply to your business and its data. Determine what security measures are necessary to meet the requirements of these laws and standards.

Network design

Outline the network architecture, focusing on high-speed connectivity, redundancy, and fault tolerance. Plan for load balancing, failover mechanisms, and high availability to ensure that your services remain online even during hardware failures. The network design should also consider latency and bandwidth requirements to optimize performance.

Data center location

Bare metal servers are often used for applications that demand minimal latency. This means it often makes sense to use a vendor with a data center near to your user base(s). Even when this is not the case, keeping data near its source can help to simplify legal and regulatory compliance.

Scalability

Select hardware and network components that can be easily expanded or upgraded. Consider modular designs that allow for the addition of more servers or increased storage without significant downtime or reconfiguration.

Choosing the right servers

Evaluate different server types such as rack-mounted, blade, and tower servers and see how well they meet your performance needs, space constraints, and budget. Pay close attention to the specifications, including CPU type and speed, RAM capacity, storage options, and network interfaces.

Vendor selection

Choosing the right hardware vendor is essential for obtaining reliable servers and support services. Compare offerings from leading vendors, considering factors such as performance, price, warranty, and support options. Look for vendors that offer customization options, allowing you to tailor the hardware to your specific needs. Reliable vendor support can significantly reduce downtime and maintenance issues.

Hardware customization

Customizing hardware to fit your specific requirements can lead to better performance and cost efficiency. Tailor configurations to match the workloads they will handle, ensuring that you are not overpaying for unnecessary features or under-provisioning critical resources. Customization might include selecting specific processors, adding additional memory, or configuring storage to match your performance and redundancy needs.

Deployment strategies

Utilize automated deployment tools and techniques to streamline the installation and configuration processes. Best practices include using scripts and configuration management tools to ensure consistency and reduce human error. Automated deployment can significantly speed up the process and ensure that servers are set up correctly.

Monitoring and maintenance

Implement robust monitoring solutions to track server performance, health, and utilization. Monitoring tools provide real-time insights into system operations, enabling proactive maintenance and quick resolution of issues. Establish regular maintenance schedules for updating firmware, applying patches, and performing hardware checks. Routine maintenance helps prevent unexpected failures and prolongs the lifespan of the servers.

Disaster recovery

Develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan to protect your data and ensure business continuity. This plan should include regular backups, off-site storage, and detailed recovery procedures. Implementing data redundancy and failover systems can minimize downtime and data loss in case of hardware failures or other disasters.

Physical security

Your vendor will take care of physical security for you but it’s important to ensure that you are happy with the measures they implement. In particular, you need to be confident that they meet all relevant legal and regulatory compliance standards.

Network security

Employ robust network security measures to protect your servers from cyber threats. Use firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion detection systems (IDS) to safeguard the network. Regularly update software and firmware to patch vulnerabilities. Implement network segmentation to isolate critical systems and reduce the attack surface.

Data security

Encrypt sensitive data both at rest and in transit to protect it from unauthorized access. Implement strict access controls and maintain audit logs to monitor and record access to sensitive data. Regularly review and update security policies to adapt to emerging threats and ensure compliance with industry standards.