Educational Episodes: Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)

PowerApps is a corporate service that allows you to create, connect, and share business applications with your team. This happens in minutes and from any device. With PowerApps, you not only optimize the work of your team but also contribute to the implementation of innovative ideas in business activities. And guess what? You can create a PowerApps application by yourself for a SharePoint list. Have no idea how?

Data is the lifeblood of any businesses. That is why its loss can be comparable to the loss of vital organs. In order not to bring the situation to a critical state, backup is mandatory. The 3-2-1 backup strategy is most effective and based on making three copies of your data, two of which are stored on different media, and one is located offsite. In terms of keeping data off-site, backups can be stored on tapes, which today are the cheapest and most reliable carrier. But infrastructures that are completely focused on tape devices are expensive and do not provide decent performance. That is why virtual tape library with a public cloud storage tier may be a good alternative. StarWind offers StarWind Virtual Tape Library (VTL) – a solution allowing to make backup processes faster and more cost-efficient. So, why does the sequence of these numbers, 3-2-1, have magical power for your peace of mind and how does StarWind VTL fit in well with this backup plan?

VMware’s release of vSphere 6.7 U was launched in October 2018. What’s new? This release includes the necessary tools for convergence and repointing. An external Platform Services Controller (PSC) has sunk into oblivion and the client can move to a simplified embedded deployment. The HTML5 based vSphere Client is now fully functional and the vSphere SSO domain has gained more flexibility with support for embedded repointing. Not bad, right? Catch this wave!

KEMP’s main product is LoadMaster, a load balancer, which allows you to work with dozens of web applications. The problem is that some web resources do not include an authentication form, as for example SSO. Therefore, moving to these applications through Kemp, the security of your data is at risk. But don’t worry! ESP or Edge Security Pack is an authentication form provided by Kemp and presented to clients before accessing the web applications.

A webhook is a method of extending or changing the behavior of a web page or web application using custom callbacks. In the case of SharePoint, webhooks allow you to track all changes that are on the site as well as receive notifications about specific events. With Azure Functions, you can host your SharePoint webhooks in a romp!

A reverse proxy is a service that sits in front of one or more servers and accepts requests from clients for resources that are located on the server or servers. From a client point of view, a reverse proxy looks like a web server and can be easily used for remote access. The Kemp LoadMaster platform provides reverse proxy services that expand the range of workloads and provide access to dozens of web applications via a single IP address/port. Set up a reverse proxy server on the LoadMaster and get the perfect point in the network to control traffic and optimize performance!

In October 2018, SharePoint Server 2019 became available to the public. Compared to SharePoint 2016, the new release attempts to prepare the user for the hybrid route and moving to the cloud. Do you need to design and build your SharePoint based solutions and infrastructures with the cloud in mind, even if you still install the on-premise version?

The golden rule for the safety of your data is as follows: always back up and distribute copies to different locations. However, the choice of backup environments can be accompanied by high-cost issues, security concerns, the risk of service interruption/termination, and so on. Storing your data in the cloud seems to be the most optimal solution. But even here you may encounter certain troubles such as the need to pay for all services, subscriptions, service plans, and configuration of a public cloud storage provider. Do you want to know about a backup storage solution that eliminates the drawbacks of costly backup processes and meets regulatory data archival and retention requirements?

Mellanox, an Israeli company, is a leader when it comes to FPGAs and all kinds of programmable logic in the switches and NICs. The latter allow having 25Gbps at a cost and quality level traditional network companies won’t allow. Recently rumors about an acquisition of Mellanox by Microsoft began to circulate. The only decision assessment does not exist, as well as the determination of reasons for which Microsoft decided to take this move. Why does Microsoft want to buy Mellanox?