IT Infrastructure Virtualization
Your own cloud instead of renting. We move your servers to a virtual infrastructure built on Proxmox and Docker, saving on hardware while keeping control of your data.
Running a separate physical server for every task is expensive and inflexible. One server sits at 10% load while another runs at its limit. A hardware failure takes a service down entirely, and every new service means a new purchase. Public clouds solve some of these problems, but in exchange your data sits with someone else's provider, and the monthly bill grows along with your load.
Virtualization gives you the flexibility of the cloud without giving up control: a single powerful server runs several isolated virtual machines and containers, all on your own hardware.
What virtualization gives you
- Hardware savings. Instead of several underused servers, one or two that are used to their full capacity.
- Service isolation. A failure or breach in one service doesn't affect the others.
- Fast recovery. A virtual machine can be fully restored from a snapshot or backup in minutes, instead of rebuilding a server from scratch.
- Scalability. You can add memory or CPUs to a virtual machine without buying a new server.
- Control over your data. Unlike with public clouds, you know exactly where your data physically resides and who has access to it.
Proxmox and Docker: what each is for
Proxmox VE is an open-source virtualization platform based on KVM/QEMU, with no licenses to buy. It runs full virtual machines with any operating system, including Linux and Windows. It's managed through a convenient web interface, with backups and snapshots built into the platform.
Docker provides containers for applications. They're lighter than virtual machines, start quickly and are easy to update. Containers are well suited to web services, internal tools and automation.
We usually use both together: Proxmox as the foundation, with Docker containers inside virtual machines for the services that suit them.
What we do
- Design and deployment of virtual infrastructure on Proxmox: hardware selection, storage and network configuration.
- Migration of existing servers to a virtual infrastructure in stages, with minimal downtime. Any work that requires stopping services is done outside business hours.
- Building a private corporate cloud: your own platform where you launch new services as needed.
- Hosting virtual servers on our infrastructure, if buying your own hardware doesn't make sense. Your data remains yours: a full copy of any virtual machine can be exported on request.
- Backups and a disaster recovery plan: what to do, in what order, and how long recovery will take.
How the work is structured
- Assessment. We review your current infrastructure, workload, and which services are critical to the business.
- Choosing the solution. We select the hardware and virtualization setup to fit your needs and budget.
- Staged migration. We move services one at a time, verifying each step. The old server stays operational until the new one has confirmed everything works.
- Monitoring and backups. We set up health monitoring and automatic backups.
- Handover or ongoing support. We take the infrastructure on for administration, or hand it over to your own specialist along with documentation and training.
For more on how we maintain servers after launch, see Servers.
Who it's for
- Businesses that have outgrown a single physical server.
- Those looking to cut hardware costs and get rid of a scattered fleet of servers.
- Those preparing for growth who don't want to hit a capacity ceiling at the worst possible moment.
- Those who want to leave the public cloud and bring their data back under their own control.