We specialise in webservices and associated soloutions. Where once technology such as Cloud Computing and DNS failover was available to Large Corporates , we can offer such solotions to our clients.
Having spent a combined number of 30 years in Corporate & SME environments , we understand the technologys required for a successful execution of day to day business.
Backup
If you have ever lost anything to virus or to a hardware crash on your PC , you'll understand that Backups are one of the most important tools available to a Business. Testing backups and having a process which allows for control of these backups is essential.
Database Mirroring , Failover
Having a database in one location can be detrimental to any business. We have implemented websites that have databases in more than one location & therefore increasing uptime of the website. For websites with a large number of visitors , we can load balance the incoming data requests to aleviate database issues before they start.
Failing over once a database or server down is detected ensures 100% uptime for our clients. Hosting companies will guarauntee you 99.9999% , but sometimes its that 1% of visitors prepared to spend that matter.
We have worked with mysql & Oracle databases but can source specialists based on your requirments.
To see real life example , we have 2 servers. 1 in a UK based datacentre and the other one in a US based Datacentre.
DNS CNAMEs are configured on our name servers for ease of use , but please test IP locations here:
When you add a record to the Website in the UK , using MYSQL master to master configuration - writes the data to the database residing in USA. This happens in milli-seconds and is seamless to the visitor. When one location is lost due to failure of any sort. The Second location will serve the visitors and sends back the changes to data once the "downed" location returns.
Geo Targetting
Geo targetting content to users from a specific country enables you to show the right content to the right visitors.Ad Serving
High Volume websites need a method to handle their advertising. We've implemented Ad servers such as OpenX to large sites who need to Geo target ads per country , incoming site , keyword search terms etc. Reporting is also key & Dashboards to assist decision makers in Advertising.Cloud Computing
This is a buzz word which is born from a very simple idea. Why pay for resources you dont use? We work with a number of Cloud Computing technoligists to implement everything from Cloud Hosting to Cloud storage to Cloud based Servers.
Amazon S3 services for example allow you to store your data securely in Amazon Data Centres in Dublin , California or in Amazon centres in Northern Virginia or the Pacific Northwest. In Ireland they have 2 separate locations for failover & data can be encrypted before it leaves your server and thus rendering the data useless once off your site.
Amazon EC2 enables you to start servers from a Web Interface and access these from any where. These can be windows or linux boxes and can enable you to increase or decrease your capacity at will.
DNS Failover
When an internet user requests a web page , it is a DNS ( Domain Name Server ) server that maps the www.domain.com address to the actual IP ( Internet Protocol) address. The technology to handle failover of DNS is costly , but we work with 3rd party services to allow you to have a variety of configurations:
Failover & Load Balanacing - You have 2 servers with mirrored databases ( as above ) - A visitor can hit either & the DNS failover service can detect when one server is unavailable and seamlessly direct visitors to the good server.
Geo Balancing - You have 3 servers , one in Ireland , one in USA and one in Austrailia. The Service allows your visitors to connect to their geographically closest server. This provides a much better latency experience for the user and for sites selling goods & products , means that the user will not become impatient waiting on a page to load. This would again work with database mirroring/load balancing as mentioned above.
Backup Online
In the past , backups were taken and brought off site be 3rd party companies or a member of the IT staff. However these have their own pitfalls in security and cost. Online backups enable you to off load your data securely and cost effectively to a secure remote location. We have worked with numerous services and can get the best soloution for you.