Firewall / VPN Solution for Dedicated Windows Servers
Firewall / VPN
A reliable firewall is the hallmark of a secure network. Networks support sensitive, crucial applications and processes, and provide a common infrastructure for converged data, voice, and video services. Firewall security is a primary concern. Instead of providing only point products that set a base level of security, Cisco embeds firewall security throughout the network and integrates security services in all of its products. Firewall security becomes a transparent, scalable, and manageable aspect of the business infrastructure.
Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances are easy-to-deploy solutions that integrate world-class firewall, Unified Communications (voice/video) security, SSL and IPsec VPN, intrusion prevention (IPS), and content security services in a flexible, modular product family.
Solution
- Use Cisco ASA5505 as a firewall.
- Customers can set up site-to-site VPN or remote access VPN to access the servers.
Diagram
Price
| Item | Description | One-Time Fee | Monthly Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco ASA5505 Firewall | Includes 10-user license, 8-port Fast Ethernet switch, stateful firewall, 10 IPsec VPN peers, 2 SSL VPN peers, 3DES/AES license, and 1 expansion slot | $0.00 | $49.00 | --- |
| Dedicated Server | 1u Supermicro Super Server Quad-Core Xeon E3-1230v2 CPU 32GB RAM 2x480GB SSD RAID 1 + 1TB SATA Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition x64 | $0.00 | $299.00 | --- |
| Total | $0.00 | $348.00 | --- |
Useful Resources
SQL Server Mirroring Solution for Dedicated Windows Servers
SQL Server Mirroring
Database mirroring is a Microsoft recommended solution for increasing the availability and data protection of a SQL Server database. It transfers transaction log records directly from the principal server to the mirror and can automatically fail over to the latter in high-safety mode without data loss. You can also code client applications to redirect their connection information. Moreover, different from the traditional failover involved high hardware cost and great software complexity, database mirroring does not require proprietary hardware and is easier to set up and manage.
Solution
- Configure database server 1 and 2 to use SQL Server Mirroring
- SQL Server 1 as a principal server
- SQL Server 2 as a mirroring server
- Use our shared SQL Server 3 as a witness server for free
- Automatic failover
- Only need one SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition license
Diagram
Price
| Item | Description | One-Time Fee | Monthly Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASA5505 | Includes 10-user license, 8-port Fast Ethernet switch, stateful firewall, 10 IPsec VPN peers, 2 SSL VPN peers, 3DES/AES license, and 1 expansion slot | $0.00 | $99.00 | --- |
| SQL Server 1 & 2 | 1u Supermicro Super Server Quad-Core Xeon E3-1230v2 CPU 32GB RAM 2x480GB SSD RAID 1 + 1TB SATA Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition x64 | $0.00 | $598.00 | $299.00/each |
| SQL Server License | SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition x64 | --- | $299.00 | --- |
| Total | $0.00 | $996.00 | --- |
Useful Resources
Network Load Balancing (NLB) Solution for Dedicated Windows Servers
Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB)
Network Load Balancing is a clustering technology offered by Microsoft as part of all Windows Server family operating systems. NLB uses a distributed algorithm to balance network traffic across a number of hosts, helping to enhance the scalability and availability of mission-critical, IP-based services, such as Web, Virtual Private Networking, Streaming Media, Terminal Services, Proxy, etc. It also provides high availability by detecting host failures and automatically redistributing traffic to operational hosts.
Network Load Balancing servers (also called hosts) in a cluster communicate among themselves to provide essential benefits, including:
- Scalability. Network Load Balancing scales the performance of a server-based program, such as a Web server, by distributing its client requests across multiple servers within the cluster. As traffic increases, additional servers can be added to the cluster, with up to 32 servers possible in any one cluster.
- High availability. Network Load Balancing provides high availability by automatically detecting the failure of a server and repartitioning client traffic among the remaining servers within ten seconds while providing users with continuous service.
Solution
- Configure web server 1 and web server 2 to be Windows Load Balancing servers.
Diagram
Price
| Item | Description | One-Time Fee | Monthly Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASA5505 | Includes 10-user license, 8-port Fast Ethernet switch, stateful firewall, 10 IPsec VPN peers, 2 SSL VPN peers, 3DES/AES license, and 1 expansion slot | $0.00 | $99.00 | --- |
| Web Server 1 & 2 | 1u Supermicro Super Server Quad-Core Xeon E3-1230v2 CPU 32GB RAM 2x480GB SSD RAID 1 + 1TB SATA Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition x64 | $0.00 | $598.00 | $299.00/each |
| Total | $0.00 | $697.00 | --- |
Useful Resources
- Plan a Web Farm with IIS Servers:When a single Web Server machine isn’t enough to handle the traffic on your Web site, it’s time to look into building a Web Farm that uses multiple machines on the network acting as a single server. In this article, Keith Newman and Robert McMurray present a complete Web Farming solution with IIS Servers and the steps on how to implement it on Windows Server 2012, which makes creating a Web Farm quick and easy and – gasp –even a simple process.
- Deploying Network Load Balancing
- Web Server Clustering
- Windows Clustering and High-Availability
- Catalyst Switches for Microsoft Network Load Balancing Configuration Example
Network Load Balancing and SQL Server Mirroring Solution for Dedicated Windows Servers
Solution
- Configure web server 1 and web server 2 to be Windows Load Balancing servers.
- Configure database server 1 and 2 to use SQL Server mirroring
- Database server 1 as a principal server
- Database server 2 as a mirroring server
- Web server 1 as a witness server (SQL Server 2017 Express Edition)
- Automatic failover
- Only need one SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition license
Diagram
Price
| Item | Description | One-Time Fee | Monthly Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASA5505 | Includes 10-user license, 8-port Fast Ethernet switch, stateful firewall, 10 IPsec VPN peers, 2 SSL VPN peers, 3DES/AES license, and 1 expansion slot | $0.00 | $99.00 | --- |
| Web Server 1 & 2 | 1u Supermicro Super Server Quad-Core Xeon X5570 CPU 16GB RAM 2x240GB SSD RAID 1 + 500GB SATA Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 | $0.00 | $398.00 | $199.00/each |
| Database Server 1 & 2 | 1u Supermicro Super Server Quad-Core Xeon E3-1230v2 CPU 32GB RAM 2x480GB SSD RAID 1 + 1TB SATA Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 | $0.00 | $598.00 | $299.00/each |
| SQL Server License | SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition x64 | --- | $299.00 | --- |
| Total | $0.00 | $1444.00 | --- |