IT has never been more important for businesses, and you need a secure and reliable system to store and process critical data.

If you are looking to set up an IT infrastructure or data centre, you need to plan it carefully in order to ensure it is secure, scalable and as efficient as it can possibly be.

In this article we take a look at how you can set up an IT infrastructure and data centre, including tips on hardware, software, security and best practices you should follow to ensure it is a success. Keep on reading to find out more.

Step One: Conduct a planning and requirements assessment

The first thing you need to do before setting up an IT infrastructure or a data centre is to define what you want from it. You should set up a business needs analysis where you determine the purpose, whether it’s for cloud hosting, enterprise applications or disaster recovery etc. You should also outline things such as estimations of its current and future storage needs as well as sort any compliance and regulatory requirements such as GDPR. Other things you need to note are your budget, working out the estimated costs for hardware, software, licensing and maintenance, deciding if you want an on-premise or cloud solution and the staffing requirements which could be needed. 

For on-premises data centres, you need to allocate plenty of space and ensure this can be temperature controlled so the systems don’t overheat. Check there is adequate power supply and that it won’t be in direct sunlight or an overly humid area where it could get damaged. 

Step Two: Design the IT infrastructure itself

Once you have sorted the above steps, you need to design the infrastructure itself. This means you can scale up and that it’s not only reliable but secure too. Within this, you need to consider the different hardware components.Consider the servers you will use – do you want rack-mounted, blade or tower? Think about storage solutions, whether you want NAS (Network Attached Storage) for file sharing, SAN (Storage Area Network) for high-speed data access and SSDs for performance. You will then need to invest in the different networking equipment such as routers, high-speed fibre or Ethernet cabling and load balancers for distribution of traffic. 

Other elements in this you should think about and sort include your software infrastructure, so what operating systems and Cloud platforms you’ll use. You need to think about Database Management Systems and what backup and disaster recovery solutions will work for your business. Tools such as Veeam and Acronis are highly recommended, while you’ll need a disaster recovery plan with off-site replication should anything go wrong. You then need to consider your network architecture, so your LAN, WAN and VPN to cover things like your internal connectivity, connecting your remote offices and provision of secure remote access.

Step Three: Set Up A Data Centre

A data centre is the most important part of IT infrastructure and it’s important you set this up properly both for short and long term use and success. Some of the main things you need to consider when doing this is:

It’s physical infrastructure – The physical infrastructure of your data centre needs to include sorting out your power supply and backup so your business won’t be at a total loss in the case of short-term outages. It should cover cooling systems with precision air conditioning to maintain optimal temperatures and you also need to sort the racks and cabinets for optimized placement and cable management. Make sure you check what nema enclosure rating you’ll need to cover your needs.

Security measures – As with most things in business, security is paramount and you want to ensure you take care of both physical and cybersecurity. Add things like biometrics access controls, CCTV surveillance and dedicated security personnel. You should implement firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems and encryption for data at rest and in transit.

Monitoring and maintenance – Once your system is up and running, you should keep it monitored and well maintained for optimum use. Keep track of things like power usage and hardware health, check out alerts for any failures or breaches and conduct regular audits to ensure it’s compliant and running at its best performance. 

Step Four: Time to Test

Once you’ve sorted out all the above, you need to make sure it’s working properly and as it should. Rigorous testing is needed to check efficiency and security prior to launch. When testing, pay attention to the system configuration, installing and configuring your servers, storage and networking devices and checking it all works properly. Check the user permissions and access works and you can see what is happening where. You should stress test servers to check they can handle peak loads and high volumes of traffic, making sure the network latency and bandwidth is up to the task. If not, you have the opportunity to upgrade or fix it prior to launch. 

While we all hope a disaster won’t happen, you need to be ready just in case. Simulate failures to see how the IT infrastructure and data centre does and that the backup systems work. Verify the data restoration from backups and that they are all as they should be.

To Conclude

Setting up an IT infrastructure and data centre can be complex, but it is essential for modern businesses in order to be as secure and efficient as possible. By planning ahead as much as you can, ensuring you have a secure network and robust hardware and following best practices, you can help it to work as best as it can. By investing in the right technology equipment and expertise you can build a future-proof IT system that will work with your company as you grow, ensuring you can scale up in no time. Have you set up an IT infrastructure for your business? If so, how did you find it worked? Do you have any tips? Let us know in the comments below.