The timfleas have been setting up a new hosted application design for our eventengine product. To help us complete the setup for our servers, we put together a template design in visio. If you are building your own proposal for a virtualized architecture you may wish to use the template to inform your high [...]]]>

The timfleas have been setting up a new hosted application design for our eventengine product. To help us complete the setup for our servers, we put together a template design in visio. If you are building your own proposal for a virtualized architecture you may wish to use the template to inform your high level logical design.  The .VSD download file is availible here, feel free to edit and re-use:

The basic restraint we had on our design was having to make use of existing servers which were mixed brand  Dell and HP, which is not ideal. However without Vmware HA switched on and with a shared ISCSI SAN hard disk pool we can use the current hardware solution and still provided a flexible and expandable platform.

Our most significant cost was the VMware licences which need to be planned well so that you achieve a clear saving on TCO compared to a hardware only solution. Our ideal platform would be HP blade based but cost and existing hardware restraints did not make the investment a viable option.

Thanks to the VIOPS  web site for the Vmware  icons and stencils  used in this Visio 2003  VSD file.    Link here: http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1338

Visit for the latest stencils, some used in this visio diagram.

This Visio diagram was used when building a concept design for our data centre for the eventengine.org applicaion.  You can download the VSD file here and use for your own designs data-centre-business-continuity

Our primary concern when building a robust infrastructure is making use of a live-live environment across two [...]]]>

Download Visio Diagram for resillient design

This Visio diagram was used when building a concept design for our data centre for the eventengine.org applicaion.  You can download the VSD file here and use for your own designs data-centre-business-continuity

Our primary concern when building a robust infrastructure is making use of a live-live environment across two data centres. With business continuity in mind our objective was to operate with minimal redundancy in technology, so all servers can provide application services without being in a warm standby. A good choice for multi site load balance is the Zeus ZXTM solution, with a heartbeat configured between the two hosted environments we were assured of continuality of service during an outage of one of the data centres.

You can find out more about the Zeus ZXTM on their website.