(Note: Microsoft has terminated support for Windows Server 2003 and it is advisable to consider upgrading from this legacy OS to an up-to-date version of Windows Server. If your organization is considering moving up to Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016, Progent can provide online and onsite Windows Server 2012 R2 planning and configuration consulting services or Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery consulting to ensure your project finishes on time and within budget. In addition, Progent's Windows Server Failover Clustering Consultants can help you a configure and troubleshoot a high-availability clustering solution based on Microsoft's latest technology.

Fault Tolerant Server Clustering ConsultingEven with typical fault tolerant feature found in high-end server hardware, such as redundant power supplies and mirrored or RAID 5 disk arrays, failed devices must be identified and replacement components must be procured and installed. These failures can bring down a server for hours, if not days. Furthermore, during regularly scheduled software maintenance functions, servers need to be rebooted or brought off-line for an extended period. For customers who need 100% uptime, the only solution is to deploy a clustered server configuration that provides fully redundant servers for a single application.

A server cluster is a group of independent computers that work together to provide a common set of services. Windows 2003 provides this high-availability solution with the Cluster service. If a cluster node (a computer in a cluster) fails, other nodes in the cluster assume the functions of the failed node. Server clustering is an essential piece of any fault-tolerant architecture, and making large investments in communication infrastructure redundancy without providing for server redundancy defeats the value of that investment.

Progent offers Windows 2003 Server consulting to help your company implement clustered server configurations that can potentially provide 100% uptime, even for normal maintenance functions. This high-availability is possible because a single server in a cluster can be brought off-line for maintenance work without affecting users. Clustering also allows IT personal to perform critical security updates during regular business hours without reducing user productivity.

Microsoft Windows 2003 Server offers mature clustering technology. This is the third major release of Microsoft clustering technology, which was first released in 1997. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, present a single view of the server to users, applications, and the network and both versions of Windows Server 2003 support up to eight-node clusters. Failover clustering configurations can be built around Microsoft technologies for mission-critical and collaborative applications such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server file and print services.

Host Clustering with Microsoft Virtual Server
Virtual Server host clustering is a technique for enhancing the capability of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 with the server cluster support incorporated in Microsoft Windows Server 2003. By means of Virtual Server host clustering, your network can benefit from an array of services via a minimum number of actual hardware servers and, simultaneously, ensure the high availability of the provided services. In case one server requires scheduled or unscheduled downtime, another server can immediately take its place and begin supporting services. As a result, your clients experience minimal service disruption. Progent's Microsoft-certified network engineers have in-depth experience deploying and supporting Microsoft Virtual Server. For more information, refer to Consulting Services for Microsoft Virtual Server.

Server Clustering and Storage Area Networks
A storage area network (SAN) is a set of disks, tapes, and servers connected to a common infrastructure, or storage fabric, such as Fibre Channel. A SAN allows multiple servers to access a common pool of storage. This allows storage to be assigned dynamically from the pool whenever it is required. Storage on a given server can be increased or decreased as needed without complex reconfiguring or re-cabling of devices. SAN technology is a good way to build clusters where shared access to a data set is required. By deploying multiple clusters onto a single storage area network, all of the benefits of SAN technology can be brought to the cluster environment. Progent's Microsoft certified engineers can show you how to combine Microsoft's server cluster technology with storage area networking to make your network more fault tolerant and easier to manage.

Server Clustering with Microsoft Exchange
Messaging systems based on Microsoft Exchange are vital for many businesses. Unfortunately, this crucial function is vulnerable to component failure, power loss, operator errors, and natural disasters. By allowing the failover of resources, server clustering provides fault tolerance for an Exchange environment. Server clusters that use the Microsoft Cluster Service can maintain data integrity and provide failover support and high availability for mission-critical applications and services on your back-end servers, including messaging systems, databases, and file and print services.

This figure shows an example of a four-node Exchange cluster with three active nodes and a passive standby node:

Microsoft Exchange Server Clustering Help

Progent's Microsoft-certified Exchange experts have proven, world-class skills in designing high-availability Exchange environments and can show you how to configure an Exchange Server cluster with shared data access to data and automatic failover capabilities. For details about Exchange consulting services available from Progent, visit Microsoft Exchange Consulting Support.

Other Fault Tolerant Technologies Offered by Progent
Progent's certified engineers can assist your business to create an affordable, high-availability system that resolves major challenges covering a wide array of infrastructure solutions and operations including:

Workplace Recovery Planning
Progent's business continuity planning engineers can help you create a workplace recovery strategy in order to restore IT operations in case of an information system disaster. Progent can help you to develop a complete disaster recovery plan that incorporates scheduled disaster recovery assessments and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-authorized consultants can also help you build an affordable, zero-downtime network architecture that addresses reliability issues covering a broad array of network technologies and processes. To learn more, visit Business Continuity Consulting Services.

Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services
ProSight Data Protection Services from Progent offer small and medium-sized businesses an affordable end-to-end service for secure backup/disaster recovery (BDR). For a low monthly price, ProSight DPS automates and monitors your backup activities and allows rapid recovery of vital data, apps and VMs that have become unavailable or damaged as a result of hardware failures, software bugs, natural disasters, human error, or malware attacks like ransomware. ProSight DPS can help you protect, retrieve and restore files, folders, apps, system images, plus Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine images. Important data can be backed up on the cloud, to an on-promises device, or to both. Progent's backup and recovery consultants can deliver advanced expertise to set up ProSight DPS to to comply with regulatory requirements like HIPPA, FINRA, and PCI and, when needed, can assist you to recover your business-critical data. Find out more about ProSight Data Protection Services Managed Cloud Backup.

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery/business continuity consultants can assist you to design a DR system built around Microsoft's cloud-tested Failover Clustering technologies such as Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade for non-intrusive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for zero-data-loss Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Storage Spaces Direct for enterprise-class storage clusters using commodity hardware, Virtual Machine Load Balancing for enhancing the speed and resilience of Failover Clusters while minimizing TCO and operational expenses, and Cloud Witness for easy, affordable deployment of a failover cluster quorum witness. For details, visit Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Expertise.

Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters
Windows Server 2008 R2 brought world-class availability and system recovery to Microsoft's failover clustering platform. Windows Server 2012 R2 adds to this technology and provides important new and enhanced features offering more scalability, better storage uptime for server applications, simpler administration, faster failover, and additional options for architecting clusters. To find out more, visit Windows Server 2012 Clustering Migration and Support.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager is an extension to VMware vCenter that allows you to define, automate and verify a repeatable runbook for restoring applications and services quickly after an outage. SRM supports centrally managed and automated disaster recovery, application mobility, and transparent site migration, failback and site re-protect. Site Recovery Manager also supports transparent testing for site recovery, upgrades and patches and can produce reports to verify complete service restoration, validate Service Level Agreements and prove DR compliance. Progent can provide the skills of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consulting expert to assist you to design, deploy, test and maintain a disaster recovery solution based on VMware SRM.

NetApp MetroCluster Disaster Recovery Platform
NetApp MetroCluster is a high-availability and disaster recovery platform that combines failover storage clustering with synchronous replication to provide fast, zero RPO disaster recovery (DR) between sites located up to 300km apart from each other. Progent offers access to a NetApp MetroCluster expert who can assist your business to design, configure, manage, upgrade, test and troubleshoot a disaster recovery system built around NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can assist you to select an architecture for your MetroCluster environment that aligns with your functional requirements and IT budget. Progent can ensure you adhere to best practices for configuring your MetroCluster environment by delivering guidance with tasks like assigning shelf IDs, arranging aggregate layout, provisioning NetApp FlexVol volumes, setting up NetApp Snapshot, provisioning Cisco and Brocade switches, implementing a tiebreaker, setting up a TCP/IP configuration replication network between your peered clusters, and verifying your MetroCluster DR solution to verify adherence with industry standards and government requirements.

Fault Tolerant Load Balancing
Progent offers fault tolerant load balancing support that addresses network load balancing, load balanced programs, LAN/WAN backbone routing, and content dispatching products such as F5 Networks 3DNS. Fault tolerant load balancing products for which Progent can provide consulting expertise include Windows 2003 and 2008 Server Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Access Suite and Access Gateway, Cisco Content Services Switch, Cisco Content Engine and Cisco CDN Software, and F5 Networks BIG-IP. For more information, go to Fault Tolerant Load Balancing.

Non-stop Colocation
Progent's Data Center professionals can help you select high availability data centers that meet the particular requirements of your business. High availability collocation sites are especially attractive to small and mid-size businesses because of their low cost and simplified logistics in comparison to taking a do-it-yourself strategy. Trying to create an in-house data center that offers even a minimum level of fault tolerance is financially prohibitive for typical small businesses. Progent can help you get all the benefits of 24x7 data centers by providing a full range of consulting and support services. To learn more, see Fault Tolerant Internet Data Centers Solutions.

Fault Tolerant Interoffice Connectivity
Progent’s multi-site connection professionals can help companies create non-stop inter-site connectivity solutions by means of redundant system architectures with automatic failover. Progent’s Cisco-premier CCIE network engineers can design and implement ultra-reliable Inter-office networks supported by fault tolerant EIGRP routers or zero-downtime OSPF deployment of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how redundant connectivity and transparent fail-over offers affordable 24x7 interoffice connectivity. To find out more, visit Failsafe Interoffice Connectivity.

Non-stop Internet Access
Progent's Cisco-certified IT professionals can help you build an affordable, high availability Internet configuration solution that can achieve non-stop Internet access through a broad range of high availability Internet network solutions including high availability BGP, transparent fail-over, and redundant ISPs. Progent can provide CCIE engineers to help you apply the most up-to-date techniques for high availability Internet connections to create an affordable, completely redundant Internet network with automatic failover and other features to deliver fault tolerant Internet connections. For more information, see Non-stop Internet Connectivity Architecture.

Backup and Restore Technology Consulting Experts
Progent can provide economical remote access to engineers skilled in a wide array of utilities and technologies that deliver solutions for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux/UNIX physical and virtual servers and desktops as well as notebooks and smartphones. Progent can provide consulting support for leading backup products such as Acronis, Backup Exec, BackupAssist, CrashPlan, Double-Take Software, MozyPro, Retrospect for Macintosh, Apple Time Machine, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), and FLARs. Progent can help your company to design, upgrade, or maintain backup/restore solutions for a range of topologies such as local, edge to datacenter, cloud-based, or hybrid. To read more, see Backup and Recovery Technology Consulting Services.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Data Recovery Consultants
Progent's certified System Center Data Protection Manager consultants can help your company to develop a practical disaster recovery plan, implement a cost-effective fault-tolerante IT infrastructure, install a System Center Data Protection Manager-based recovery solution, thoroughly test your DPM system, train your administrative personnel or regular service providers how to maintain SCDPM, or provide complete IT outsourcing services such as remote housing of System Center Data Protection Manager machines in Progent's secure data center. For more information, see System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) Expertise.

Barracuda Backup On-premises and Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is an affordable, subscription backup/restore platform for small and medium-size businesses. A Barracuda Backup solution can incorporate a custom-designed physical storage device built by Barracuda or a virtual appliance with comparable functionality but which uses your own storage hardware. Barracuda Backup safeguards critical business data produced on-premises, at one or multiple remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster protection, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon Web Services (AWS), or to any site with a Barracuda Backup appliance. Progent is a certified Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants can provide a wide range of consulting support services to help your business to design, configure, manage and troubleshoot a BDR system based on Barracuda technology. For more information, see Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consultants.

Altaro VM Backup Solutions for Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup software offers small and mid-size businesses a reliable and affordable solution for backing up and recovering Hyper-V and VMware-based VMs. Altaro VM Backup can be used for on-premises, remote, multi-site, and cloud environments and also enables low-cost backup to Microsoft Azure Block Blob storage. Headline capabilities include industry-leading inline deduplication to cut backup storage requirements, Continuous Data Protection with backup intervals as little as five minutes for minimizing your Recovery Point Objective, advanced encryption, granular recovery capability for individual files and emails, support for Windows CSV and vCenter for handling large-scale deployments, and the ability to leverage Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service to back up live virtual machines without downtime. Progent is a certified Altaro partner and can provide a broad range of consulting services to help you to plan, deploy, manage and troubleshoot a backup and disaster recovery system based on Altaro VM Backup software. For more information, go to Altaro VM Backup Consulting.

Consulting for Double-Take Software for Backup/Restore
Double-Take Software publishes a family of tools intended to provide small companies a variety of cost-effective solutions for replicating and recovering vital workloads including Exchange Server, SQL, Blackberry, and Microsoft SharePoint. Progent’s disaster recovery planning experts have extensive backgrounds incorporating Double-Take Software technology into small business information systems to achieve an advanced state of availability and business continuity readiness at an affordable price. To learn more, go to Consulting for Double-Take Software for Backup.

CRISC-Premier Network Risk Management
The Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) program was established by ISACA to verify an IT professional's ability to plan, deploy, and maintain IS control mechanisms to mitigate risk. Progent can provide the services of a CRISC-certified consultant to help you to develop and execute a workplace continuity strategy that follows leading practices identified by CRISC and crafted to align with your organization's risk tolerance, business objectives, and budgetary guidelines. To find out more, go to CRISC-Premier network risk mitigation experts.

Why Pick Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning?
Because Progent is a Microsoft Certified Partner and provides specialized application support for a wide range of business applications, Progent is able to assist customers to find complete IT solutions that optimize the productivity of your IT network. As a Registered Partner for Cisco, Progent can provide the expertise of certified consultants and specialists with experience in architecting, deploying and maintaining infrastructure solutions based on Cisco products. The extent of Progent's technical know-how and Progent's familiarity with the needs of small companies make Progent the perfect resource for creating and maintaining a cost-effective, high-availability information system.

How You Can Get in Touch with Progent's Engineers for Fault Tolerant Computing Support
If you wish to contact Progent about technical help for fault tolerant infrastructure, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.

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