What is a Virtual Private Network – (VPN)?

A VPN, Virtual Private Network, is a service added to your internet that lets you access the web privately and safely. It routes your connection through a server and hides your online actions.

From a user perspective, once the VPN is started, the software encrypts data before your internet service provider or WIFI sees it. The online destination sees your data coming from the VPN server and its location instead of your computer and location.

Without the VPN, your connection is open to anyone who wants to view your data. As a business, this can be detrimental to your information. Anything from financial reports to clients or customers and more.

The internet is made up of many servers responsible for storing websites and their information. When you connect to a site, your server is in communication with their server, and data is shared. This allows you to browse a page and make purchases or gather information.

Where Privacy Gets Lost

This is where privacy is lost, as you are allowing several sources onto your server to have access to any and all information. As one site explains, this is like taking a commercial airline flight in that there are many people responsible for routing your destination from one location to another. Everyone from ticket agents to baggage handlers has your information handy to make sure you get where you are going with everything intact.

While you may not care that the ticket agent has your personal credit card information, as you needed to share that to purchase your ticket, the baggage handler has no need to have that information at their disposal. It could lead to information being stolen and used for other types of purchases. Some that you didn’t intend to make.

Using a type of security system to protect personal data is important to keep everything safe for future use, and to keep prying eyes from getting the information they have no reason to use.

How Does a VPN Work?

In using a VPN, there is a barrier between you and the internet. So, when you start going online, your computer system is connected to this safe hub and from there the connection is made to the internet. This allows the internet to see only what the barrier sends out or receives to be seen by anyone who has ulterior motives. This also protects your viewing privacy.

Information that is sent from your computer to the VPN is encrypted, keeping personal information contained. No one can pry and have access to your information. It is much more difficult to hack into that system and add or change any files on your computer to allow them access to sensitive data.

Your identity is also hidden as sites see the VPN server as the traffic origin, not your home or business location. They also only see the encrypted information so they would need a way to decipher any information they obtained.

Encryption works by:

• Starting with plain data
• Applying a key (secret code) to transform the data
• Ending with encrypted data

The encrypted data is only readable by someone with the original key used to encrypt the data.

Your VPN can be secure, but the connection protocol the encryption mechanism used to handle your information determines that strength.

What Are Some Common Protocols?

According to The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding VPNs protocols define how the service handles data transmission over a VPN.

Here is a brief overview of the most common protocols:

• PPTP (Point-To-Point Tunneling Protocol). This is one of the oldest protocols in use, originally designed by Microsoft. This system works mostly on old computers, is a part of the Windows operating system, and it’s easy to set up. However, by today’s standards, it is not very secure. This protocol should be avoided if possible.
• L2TP/IPsec (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol). This is a combination of PPTP and Cisco’s L2F protocol. The concept of this protocol is sound, but the execution isn’t very safe. The addition of the IPsec protocol improves security a bit, but there are reports of the NSA’s alleged ability to break this protocol and see what’s being transmitted. Since there is debate about this type, it is best to avoid this as well.
• SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol). Built by Microsoft, the connection is established with some SSL/TLS encryption. Their strength is built on symmetric-key cryptography; a setup in which only the two parties involved in the transfer can decode the data within. Overall, SSTP is a very secure solution.
• IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange, Version 2). This is an iteration of Microsoft’s previous protocols and a much more secure one at that. It provides you with some of the best security.
• This takes what’s best in the above protocols and does away with most of the flaws. It’s based on SSL/TLS and it’s an open-source project, which means that it’s constantly being improved by hundreds of developers. It secures the connection by using keys that are known only by the two participating parties on either end of the transmission. Overall, it’s the most versatile and secure protocol out there.

Most VPNs allow you to select the protocol you use. The more secure protocol you connect through (OpenVPN, IKEv2), the more secure your entire session will be.

As with any internet service or security feature, there are laws that pertain to the types of programs and services you can use depending on the country where you live or do business with. When choosing a VPN service, it is always a good idea to do your homework and decide what is best for you and your customers. The protocols are safe to use in the US, Canada, the UK, and the rest of Western Europe.

For more information on how we can help set up a secure server for your company, contact us today! We are here to help set your business up for success while ensuring your security and safety.

There is no doubt about the massive popularity surrounding software-as-a-service, commonly referred to as SaaS. Estimates state that nearly nine of every ten businesses are using some variation of SaaS applications. And the growth is unlikely to slow. Further estimations on the ubiquity of SaaS for cloud-based workloads forecast a dominating three-quarter of the overall market by next year.

With such a consuming presence in the business world today, considering SaaS applications has nearly become a default for any industry. Yet, with such broad expansion comes criticism. The sheer growth of SaaS applications is a testament that they offer clear advantages. But what are the potential downsides of this technological phenomenon?

An organization should be prepared to understand both the advantages and disadvantages associated with SaaS. We examine a few of the most critical pros and cons in this article.

A brief introduction to SaaS

Organizations across industries are transitioning their operations to cloud-based environments. The simplest way to understand computing through the cloud is that this solution relies on storage and access through the internet instead of a hard drive or other types of local storage systems.

This mass-escalation of cloud-based solutions nearly guarantees the continued growth of SaaS software and applications. SaaS is one of three primary categories of cloud computing, utilizing a method of distributing software from third-party providers to customers over the internet.

Typical SaaS models involve the licensed use of an application through subscriptions. This distribution method stands in contrast to the historical use of software-on-premise, installed in the same building as the user. SaaS applications can often include resources that apply to communication, accounting, customer relations, business performance, and numerous other applications.

Examples of popular SaaS providers include Google Apps, Microsoft, Slack, Hubspot, Salesforce, Dropbox, and a long—ever-expanding—list of other purveyors.

Advantages of SaaS

The concept of computation as a public utility goes as far back as the 1960s, with the now-famous statements of John McCarthy. But the rapid increase of SaaS has been enabled by the wide adoption of the internet in the past two or three decades.

This section examines some of the advantages that have propelled SaaS applications.

Adaptable subscriptions

SaaS replaces the purchase of software-on-premise with a flexible subscription model to a customer’s individual needs. Subscriptions paid monthly, quarterly, or annually are the most common. They provide a modifiable and recurring operating expense that can help project budgets based on evolving operating costs.

Reduced costs

Replacing licensing costs associated with the purchase of software with amenable subscriptions fees most commonly results in lower initial costs for a customer. This exchange often allows a company to move its investment into operating expenditures rather than further capital expenditures.

A customer’s decreased reliance on hardware and software is also a reason for lower costs, resulting from the SaaS provider managing IT infrastructure that administers the software.

Less effort to access

Using cloud-based computing, SaaS’s applications require little more than an internet connection, browser, and user authentication. These resources can, in essence, be accessed from anywhere and at any time. Expending less effort to access commonly leads to reductions in cost and increases in productivity.

Ease of scaling

Due to SaaS’s modifiable nature of subscription-based models, a company is supported in maximizing the limits of its budget, with access to the most updated technology and professional services. Subscriptions can be altered to match increases or decreases of a company’s volume, permitting optimized performance and elevated expansion opportunities.

Refined implementation and maintenance

On-premise software resources typically required extensive deployment periods to install software across the entirety of an organization. Effort and productivity are saved when employing SaaS solutions, demanding only a functioning system and the initiation of access while the subscription is active.

Continued management and maintenance are also handled by SaaS, reducing labor and costs. These maintenance efforts also apply to regular software updates that mitigate any bugs or errors in the software.

Disadvantages of SaaS

Given the advantages of employing SaaS applications, an organization is likely to encounter the consideration of adopting these resources. It is critical to regard the potential disadvantages while considering a SaaS provider.

Less control

By relinquishing implementation and management to a third-party, a sacrifice to control over the software solution occurs. An organization becomes reliant on the version of software a provider offers while losing opportunities to make certain customizations for specific operational needs.

Challenges to connectivity

Connectivity relates to potential cloud-based failures or issues with the internet. SaaS functions rely on access to the internet and its cloud sources. Provider outages or unreliable internet connection can result in lost time, lower performance, or productivity challenges.

Security concerns

Cloud-based environments can result in confidential and essential information being store outside the organization’s server. This presents added concerns over this data’s security, which can impact privacy protection and access management—leading industries that work with sensitive data to be skeptical of SaaS services.

Service agreements

The expansion of SaaS has resulted in a diversity of providers who commonly use varying service level agreements. Such agreements can involve matters of data breaches and service failures. Navigating the details of various service agreements is critical to ensuring safety and security, resulting in an expenditure of time and confusion over the potential impact on a business.

Resources

There are many factors to consider with the adoption of a SaaS application. An organization must determine what portions of operations may benefit from SaaS. It must also traverse a substantial and ever-growing population of service providers.

Network Coverage has assembled a set of technology and business solutions to support your organization in maneuvering through this complex and critical environment.

Set up a consultation with Network Coverage for experienced advice and support.

Tips for a Smooth Cloud Computing Transition

You might have heard about “the cloud,” but do you know what it is and how to use it as a business tool? Cloud computing is a great way to save your business money and scale business solutions with the growth of your company.

Unfortunately, transitioning to the cloud can be tough since so many business owners don’t know the first thing about cloud computing. Even if you don’t know much about the cloud, following these tips can help your business make a smooth cloud computing transition.

Understand Your Goals

The first step to ensuring your business makes a smooth transition to the cloud is taking the time to clearly outline your goals with cloud computing. The cloud can be used for lots of different purposes when it comes to business, so knowing what you want to achieve and how cloud computing can benefit your business is important.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, you can start mapping out a plan to achieve those goals. You need to consider what sort of functions and features you need from cloud computing, as well as what sort of infrastructure is best for achieving those goals.

Clearly outlining your goals with cloud computing allows you to focus your transition around those goals. When you design your cloud computing strategy around what you want to achieve through the cloud, your business will have a much better success rate in terms of making the transition.

Choosing a Cloud Platform

Of course, you also need to choose the right cloud platform if you want the transition to be easy. There is no “best” cloud services provider. Instead, there are a handful of things you should look for when you’re choosing a cloud platform:

• Scalability: Ideally, you want a cloud service provider who can scale services with your business as it grows. This saves you money early on and ensures your cloud services can grow with your business.
• Customizability: Good cloud services can be customized to fit your needs, no matter what kind of business you run or how experienced you are.
• Accessibility: The best cloud services are accessible with no more than an internet connection, meaning team members across the globe can easily access the cloud.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Cloud computing can already save you money, but looking for cost-effective services is a great way to increase cost savings.
• Management and Support: Having expert-managed cloud services means less downtime and more help learning to use and troubleshoot the products that are essential to your business.

Choosing a cloud platform based on these factors will ensure you get quality cloud services that are backed up by professionals. This means less downtime and a smoother transition for your business, which in turn means more cost savings.

The Six R’s

When talking about transitioning to cloud computing, the six R’s are often brought up in conversation. The six R’s—rehost, re-platform, refactor, repurchase, retain and remove—are potential cloud migration strategies. Each strategy offers different pros and cons, so it’s important to look at all the options to figure out what’s best for your company.

Rehosting, also known as lift-and-shift, is when you move your existing physical or virtual servers to an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform. This is a small step that’s fairly simple, but it can still save your business a lot of money.

Replatforming involves taking your existing solutions and upgrading them to another platform. This is a great way to maintain functionality while upgrading to better cloud services.

Repurchasing is when a company switches to another product, often ending existing licensing. An example of this is switching from a self-run email system to an online email service.

Refactoring is generally the most expensive and involved transition method, but it’s a great way to add features or scale that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

Retiring is the process of deciding which parts of your IT portfolio are no longer needed and turning them off accordingly. Turning these parts off can save your business money.

If you still need a particular IT service or server, you might want to consider retaining it. This is a good strategy for hybrid cloud deployment.

Prepare for Security Challenges

When you’re transitioning to the cloud, it’s not uncommon to deal with new security challenges. Make sure you know what you’re up against and have a plan of action for detecting, securing, and preventing breaches. Fortunately, a good cloud service provider can help you create a more secure cloud computing environment.

Get Help from the Experts

At the end of the day, there’s a reason you run a business instead of offering cloud services to businesses. You may not be an expert on the cloud, but you can always hire somebody who is. If you’re not sure how to handle the transition to the cloud, how to prepare for security challenges, or even which cloud services you need, consulting with an expert is a smart way to make the transition easier.

Cloud services aren’t just diverse and effective, they also scale with your business and make it easier to operate in the modern world. However, making the transition from physical servers and traditional services to cloud computing can be tough. If you want your business to make a smooth cloud computing transition, Network Coverage can help.

Does Hardware Play a Role in Network & Cybersecurity?

This question used to be one of those “40,000 feet above” questions — it was more of a psychological test rather than an actual security concern. Because when we hear the term ‘cyberattack’, the average person’s mind immediately jumps to sleuths in a dark room pecking away at their keyboards whilst delivering a fatal software blow to their intended victim.  And for a long time, that’s exactly how our industry functioned.

For the small business, a basic firewall and some security tweaks were probably good enough. For larger companies, perhaps there was a CDN to help mitigate software access to internal systems and even prevent DDoS attacks. But is that really enough? Are you really protected strictly from a software-centric approach?

What Are Hardware Vulnerabilities?

A hardware vulnerability is a flaw within a piece of hardware that allows malicious users to attack, change, or otherwise affect a device beyond its intended use. This can result in a hacker commandeering many different types of hardware from computers and smartphones to internet-connected smart devices like thermostats and baby monitors.

While most businesses probably don’t have a baby monitor in most situations, the number of IoT devices hitting the market every day is growing exponentially. Statista estimates that at the end of 2018 the number of IoT devices was around 22 million. By 2025, this number is expected to reach an eye-watering 38.6 billion, and that growth will continue to trend upward. While this estimation includes consumer products like smart refrigerators, it also includes business-critical devices like gate controllers and security switches.

With this sort of realization, it’s easy to see that there’s a larger amount of new devices being added to our networks. According to CISA, most small businesses don’t have the capacity to handle the ever-growing amount of cyber threats with many small businesses not evening running basic antivirus scans.

4 Ways to Prevent Hardware Exploits

Change your default password

This hopefully applies to small businesses more than an enterprise entities, but it’s one of the most overlooked and basic networking security procedures that we can take. There are now websites that list a majority of the routers on the market today’s default credentials. If someone really wanted to gain access to your network, from the inside or out, it would only take a few minutes assuming you’ve never changed the default administrative password.

This is especially troubling since ISPs often give the same equipment to small businesses as they do to consumers.

Our recommendation: Change all of your passwords and continue to do so often.

Limit or completely eliminate USB use

This example of network security exploitation is made most famous by high-stakes action movies. An agent sneaks into the office of their target with another operative coaching them on how to plug in a thumb drive to usurp all of their data. And while that makes more good entertainment, the real-world consequences could be devastating.

Kaspersky also reported that there’s no antivirus that can detect malware or the like at the USB controller level, and even a device’s charging port can now be exploited.

Our recommendation: Severely limit or completely eliminate the use of USB devices altogether. A securely networked cloud solution provides more security and is easily managed by your company’s IT team.

Update all hardware firmware

Seldom thought of as a vulnerability spot, the firmware of all hardware components like motherboards, processors, and even smartphones can become an instant breaking point for attackers purposely targeting core-level entry points. The NIST is constantly updating the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) in order to help thwart incoming attacks, but the number of sophisticated methods used by attackers continues to grow.

A recent ransomware attack reported by the BBC, called RobbinHood, targeted the city of Baltimore’s government functions and left 10,000 city government computers locked and disrupted city-wide payments.

Our recommendation: Stay on top of critical security updates for any system that is connected to your network directly or indirectly.

Manage your network out-of-band

Out-of-band (OoB) network management is a method of managing critical network infrastructure from outside of the network to mitigate internal and local network exploitation.

The benefits of OoB are numerous, including emergency access to the remote device in the event that a primary network goes down or otherwise becomes inaccessible. It also allows companies to close off specific sets of data while still allowing access to network devices. A paper from the NSA describes the benefits of OoB by noting that the most beneficial implementations successfully create alternate pathways for network traffic from the operational traffic. In the event of a cyberattack, this can potentially limit the access that the attacker could get and helps to keep user operations overall unaffected.

Our recommendation: Consider OoB implementation at least partly for critical systems if not for your overall networking operations.

The Priority of Hardware Firewalls for Small Business

Managing expenses is core to any size of business. But it tends to be considerably more critical for smaller companies working from a more limited set of resources. How you decide to expend those resources in a startup or small business has dramatic and vital consequences for your organization’s sustainability.

We understand the challenges facing small business owners when it comes to expenses on network and digital security. You need to know that the cost is justified.

Do the benefits outweigh the potential consequences?

Unfortunately, the dangers associated with our digital security have rarely been higher. Protecting the data that allows us to maintain our small businesses is of the highest priority.

Statistics on cybercrime point to the stark reality that businesses of all sizes face similar security challenges and risk of attack.

In response to this harsh reality, we find it essential to explore a better understanding of hardware firewalls and their role in small business security.

Why hardware firewalls are necessary for small businesses

The numbers on cybercrime are stacked against large, medium, and small businesses. It is common to associate risk only with large corporations or major banks. But the statistics provide a different perspective. Cybercrime is not limited to large operations or significant data breaches. The impact of cybercrime is experienced at all levels.

Forbes released an article in 2019 that revealed the glaring perspective that 58% of all cybercrimes were committed against small businesses. Further contributing to an illumination of the threat, Forbes points out how costly these crimes are for small businesses in particular. The cost associated with recovering from attacks is often too great for companies with fewer resources to survive. An official annual report on cybercrime from Cyber Security Ventures stated that global cybercrime damages are projected to reach $6 trillion per annum by 2021.

Trends often point to small businesses being more frequently targeted. This is mainly due to the assumption that a small business is less likely to be secure—and easier to breach. Collecting valuable information from various smaller sources can be even more profitable for a criminal than focusing on fewer options in large ventures. Many criminals also simply have a number of resources available to them that are better suited to small crimes than large-scale operations.

For further resources on the diverse reasons small businesses are increasingly at risk of cyberattacks, consult this article from the Associated Press or consider a consultation with expert solutions provider Network Coverage Managed IT Services.

What is a hardware firewall?

Understanding a hardware firewall and its contribution to your critical security is a vital step toward making an informed decision for your business.

Let’s imagine that a hardware firewall functions much like the security at an airport. Thirty years ago, this comparison would not have worked so well. Airports were considerably less secured or monitored. Even guests without a ticket to board the plane could accompany a passenger all the way to the gate. Times have changed significantly. It is now a completely foreign idea to think of walking our friend or family to the gate and watching as the plane pulls away and flies off into the sky.

Security checks now stand in the way. No one without the proper credentials or a plane ticket can pass through security. The airport is now divided into two distinctly defined areas. A small portion of the airport is open to anyone, and the rest of it is only available to passengers or staff. This security system has a comprehensive and exhaustive set of rules and technology to ensure that only approved and safe entities are permitted entry.

The same can be said for a hardware firewall. It is a physical device that stands between two distinct parts. These parts are commonly a server and a computer. Understanding the server could be understood as the less restricted area of the airport. In contrast, the computer is the point beyond security.

A hardware firewall will serve as a portal with a set of rules and resources that filter only the passage of approved and safe resources through to the computer. However, extending beyond our airport metaphor, a hardware firewall also monitors resources flowing in the other direction—from the computer (through the firewall) to the server.

Hardware firewalls—such as a router—are complex and powerful tools that also employ software to force all traffic (data) traversing the connection for inspection. The firewall can grant or deny access based on a set of programmable rules.

Core advantages to a hardware firewall

• Extra support: Hardware firewall products commonly provide support that offers assistance with configuration, troubleshooting, and the ability to make expeditious adjustments.
• Control over port access: This relates to being able to have nuanced control over the set of rules programmed into the hardware. Laws can govern if anyone can have access, or if access is limited to exclusive parties such as a developer or administrator.
• Stock rule-setting: A set of default guidelines can be installed that apply to the entirety of traffic that flows through the hardware firewall.
• Managed traffic: Gain full access to governing all types of traffic that can or cannot reach the server.
• Free up resources: A hardware firewall can govern a full network of devices connected to it. This allows an opportunity to remove software-based firewalls and free up memory and processor capacity on a device, resulting in valuable space for running a business.
• Add on a Virtual Private Network (VPN): Hardware firewalls permit the application of a further layer of complex and robust security. Installing a VPN service empowers a business with the security and access management for any critical party with an internet connection—from nearly endless locations. This is a uniquely viable security feature for employees working from home or traveling.

Resources

There are many factors to consider for the security and protection of your small business. An organization must determine what hardware firewalls and security measures will be optimally designed for your specific needs.

Network Coverage has assembled a set of technology and business solutions to support your organization in maneuvering through this complex and critical environment.

Set up a consultation with Network Coverage for experienced advice and support.

Difference Between Colocation & Data Centers

“What type of data center solution is best for me?” This is a common question that many people ask, and for good reason: we need to understand how our data is handled to plan for management and growth. There are various ways to set up your IT infrastructure, but choosing the best option requires planning and forethought about current and future data usage along with company goals. Two common IT infrastructure setups include ‘standard’ data centers and colocation data centers. While sometimes used interchangeably, the biggest differentiators are the level of ownership and required management of server security and upkeep.

What Is Colocation?

Colocation brings different servers owned by several companies that are operated and sometimes managed by a single but separate facility. It’s a popular method that allows a business to have a working data center without the costs associated with a new data center construction. The resources and management of the server(s) located in the colocation are sometimes provided by the IT staff on-site, usually for a contracted fee and time period.

For companies with a larger geographic service area, it’s not uncommon for one company to house multiple servers across different colocations. Colocations are usually, but not always, chosen due to their proximity to the business’s offices.

To make it easier to remember, colocation is a service offered by a data center, while a data center itself is the place where colocation is provided.

Benefits of Colocation

Think of colocation like renting an apartment versus homeownership. The colocation is the apartment, and your server(s) are the tenants. Renting the space and signing a lease guarantees a livable space for a predetermined amount of time. As opposed to homeownership (owning a data center), all or most of the maintenance and management typically required of servers is handled for you. Colocations offer excellent scalability at much lower costs than new construction.

Typically Lower Costs

Colocations tend to be cheaper since businesses are essentially renting space. Additional services may be added to a rental, such as on-site maintenance or the handling of hardware changes. Furthermore, the costs of the physical construction of a data center are eliminated, saving businesses even more money. Colocations also allow firms to avoid electricity, cooling, and security costs like fire, flood, and theft protection.

Less Labor Intensive

Because the core of the infrastructure in colocation is already available, your staff won’t need to perform laborious tasks like cable running or power management. Often,  colocations offer hands-on maintenance, though this is an optional service.

Greater Reliability and Uptime

Similar to the benefits of lower costs, using a colocation avoids the need to have redundancy systems, power backup solutions, and ISP and telco vendors.

Mostly Fixed Costs

With some exceptions like paying for hardware changes or repairs, the monthly recurring costs of colocation utilization are highly predictable. This allows businesses to better budget for other priority areas like research and development or marketing.

Better Security

Most colocations are constructed to meet or exceed industry standards, including security measures. This provides physical security benefits of being in an occupied space along with cyber security benefits since colocations typically have state of the art firewalls, DDoS protection, and more.

What Is a Data Center?

A data center is a building that’s sole purpose is to house IT hardware like servers. An on-premises data center could be your servers in a closet or room that handles all your IT needs and requires considerable upkeep and day-to-day management. If you utilize colocation or cloud computing solutions, both scenarios have your data in a data center. The difference is: when you’re using colocation, you own the servers but not the data center; with cloud computing, you lease the servers from the data center.

Which Data Center Solution is Right for Me?

This all depends on your current needs and ultimate goals. For most purposes, cloud computing and colocation are typically the most economical options for most small to medium businesses. For enterprise customers, these may still be viable options, although again, that depends on the company’s size.

A company like Google owns its own massive, globally distributed network of data centers and offers data services like cloud computing as a product to other businesses. But a small app developer or SaaS company would likely benefit from the much lower costs of colocation or cloud computing services.

Scaling Your Business

Businesses usually have the goal of sustainable growth. Part of that growth comes at an expense, and for many companies, the highest costs are labor and IT. Contact us today if your company is looking to scale but unsure which data center option best suits your needs. We’ll help your business develop a sound strategy that places scalability and affordability as a priority.

How Virtualization Reduces Data Center Inefficiency

Technology is often filled with buzzwords that create hype for technology companies and confusion for everyone else. The meaning of terms like ‘the cloud,’ ‘Internet of Things,’ and ‘virtualization‘ isn’t immediately apparent in a contextual way. However, beyond these $10 words is an enormous amount of power and potential to change the way businesses and consumers interact with technology at a core level.

What Is Virtualization?

Virtualization describes the process of running a virtual instance of a computer system in a separate layer from the hardware it’s viewed on. Under ordinary circumstances, this means running more than one operating system on a single computer simultaneously.

Virtualization for the Average Person

Apple recently released the powerful M1 series of chips to power their newest desktops and laptops. Since this is Apple’s silicon, there was initially a scramble to keep Mac users’ applications functioning due to Mac’s previously using Intel-based CPUs; the new system architecture is ARM-based, more similar to an iPhone or iPad rather than a traditional computer. One popular function only available to Intel-based Macs is Bootcamp, a macOS feature that allows users to install a copy of Windows for dual-boot purposes.

What does any of that have to do with virtualization? Well, now that Bootcamp is gone, the popular Parallels virtualization software has taken the spotlight as one of the best ways to run another operating system on a Mac including Windows, Ubuntu, and Red Hat.

The Benefits of Data Center Virtualization

But when it comes to a data center, we’re no longer talking about small-scale efficiency. Virtualization in a data center becomes more fruitful, especially in IT management and overall costs.

The need for server virtualization came about because of an old principle that servers would only be used for one application. The more applications we used, the more servers we’d bring on. But for every server that was being deployed, most were heavily underutilized. To simplify things, the process of virtualization allows us to take a standard server and have it act as the four or five underutilized servers of old by instantly deploying virtual instances of — well, anything. In this low-level example, five servers running at 20% utilization could become one server running at 100% utilization. The four remaining servers could then be used for something else.

Instant Resource Allocation

Another massive benefit of server virtualization is the ability to instantly reduce or increase server resources to any virtual machine within the server without touching physical hardware. This helps to reduce IT labor costs and eliminate excess downtime.

In server virtualization, the primary system is called a host, and each server deployment within the host is called a guest. If a server does require a physical hardware change, the entire host and all of its guests can be deployed to another server and seamlessly connected. This allows the original host to be physically modified without any end-user interruption.

Resources like storage and memory can freely be assigned to each guest as needed.

Instant Deployment

That’s the beauty of server virtualization with resource allocation. But when it comes to adding or removing guests from the hosts, this is when virtualization really shines. Need a new server environment to test an upcoming app? Deployed. Taking that a step further, server instances can be saved and deployed without reinstalling multiple pieces of software.

Virtualization Everywhere

While server virtualization can provide its own immense benefits, other portions of a data center can increase their efficiency, too.

Storage virtualization combines groups of physical storage to be accessible as though they were a part of one individual system, commonly called a Storage Area Network (SAN).

Applications virtualization allows users to use an application so long as they have access to the server. This eliminates the need to install anything on the user’s device.

Network virtualization takes physical networks and combines them into a single virtual network through software. A virtual local area network, or VLAN, functions as a LAN even when the computers aren’t actually near each other. This also grants access to each system’s networking hardware like switches and routers that can be allocated anywhere they’re needed.

Cloud Virtualization

Take everything you’ve just read and apply that concept to the cloud. Cloud virtualization allows users to pick and choose which services and resources they need and scale up or down as they see fit. If users need more storage for application testing but only temporarily, they can scale up their current allotment then scale down upon project completion.

Infrastructure as a Service

It feels like we’re entering Inception levels of deepness here. IaaS allows users to have their entire IT infrastructure — complete with cloud-based servers, network resources, and endless storage options — all in the cloud. This is a pretty high-level of sophisticated hardware that you would never need to interact with physically. All done for you, all thanks to the power of virtualization.

The Power of Virtualization

All told, there are few ways to boost the efficiency of a data center like virtualization. The security advantages of guest insulation to the saving of physical space are just a couple of the bigger benefits. And while virtualization can save a lot of money, it’s also good for the environment, too.

Network Capacity Planning & Performance Analysis

When we think about network capacity, it can be difficult to predict what our businesses will need truly. Anything on our network will utilize some of the available capacity. Capacity, then, is a finite resource that can expand or contract based on current usage.

Think of it like this: Your entire network — meaning your internet-connected business system and all of its inner workings like hardware and software — can only handle so much at one time. The number of simultaneous operations that a network can handle would indicate its capacity. Every business will have a different capacity requirement depending on the work being done. For example, a big-box retailer will need a relatively high network capacity compared to a chain of gas stations due to the total number of connected devices on the premises.

To get the most significant performance gains for your businesses, your IT team will need to carefully consider both current and future use case scenarios to prevent the potential for system failure.

What Is Network Capacity Planning?

Network capacity planning is the allocation and deployment of network-based new and current resources that aid in preventing network system failures due to usage. Routers, firewalls, and switches make op the average business network. Determining what types of traffic flow through the network and what amount can help provide an evidence-based prediction of total server usage needs.

Current Hardware

We also need to look at what our current network infrastructure looks like and how many devices are accessing the network at any given time. Older hardware may need to be upgraded if our current usage is creating massive latency or network crashes. It’s also a good idea to check where the problems are occurring. Sometimes, older hardware may not have the capabilities of newer ‘smart’ technologies that better allocate and reallocate system resources, especially during times of increased traffic.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can simultaneously travel over a network. While network speed is how fast our network can send and receive information, bandwidth is how much information can be sent and received at any given time. For example, a video production house might require a lot of bandwidth since video files are typically large and are usually worked on from multiple computers at once. Consider the type of information being sent and received — sometimes, the added cost of increased bandwidth may not be required. Likewise, you don’t want to shortchange your network to avoid increased spending if the end result leads to a decrease in productivity or the ability to generate future revenue.

CPU and Memory Management

CPU and memory management refers to your business’s servers instead of individual computers or workstations. High-end CPUs typically perform better in almost every aspect but quickly increase overall hardware costs. And depending on your business uses, you may not currently need the extra horsepower that more powerful CPUs provide. The same goes for memory — newer mainframes can support more than 40 terabytes. But just as with CPUs, you should consider your current uses before sinking lots of money here. Companies working in machine learning and AI may benefit from such large amounts of memory, but for most businesses, their needs are probably lower.

For CPU and memory purchasing, a good rule of thumb is overestimating your usage by about 20%. You’ll be covered should your usage increase. The best way to truly understand your total network capacity is by conducting a performance analysis.

Network Capacity Performance Analysis

We can perform network stress tests that simulate traffic to identify any shortcomings or points of concern through network monitoring software. This is typically done with the end-user, your employees, in mind. Jitter, throughput, and packet loss measurement are just a few things monitoring software can analyze to pinpoint a problem.

You’ll also want to measure latency. Performing a test of your network’s round trip delay determines how quickly data is sent out and received before sending more. A bad score in this area can affect total network performance but significantly hinder communication applications and VoIP.

By performing these detailed networking tests, we can better understand our network shortcomings to create more productive experiences for those who use the network most.

Why Network Analysis is Important

Ultimately, we want to help mitigate networking issues before reaching our users. This statement holds for all businesses, whether in an office setting or as an end-user for cloud-based applications. A bad user experience can quickly lead to lost revenue, so detecting them as early and as often as possible is best.

With the increased adoption of cloud technology, many users are ditching the once-ubiquitous centralized internet gateway for more decentralized options; it’s essential to make sure we’re monitoring every network touchpoint to understand network performance at every step.