Networks
■ When possible, put servers on the same network, not separated over the Internet. However, you do not have to co-locate the database server with any iMISPublic appserver).
■ When hosting your systems internally at your office, use no less than a T1 connection for the servers. This gives your users (both internal and external) the best experience with iMIS and your website.
■ When hosting your systems with an external hosting company, ensure they have a least 10 Mbps speed, with a further burst possible, in case of sudden track spikes.
■ Tip: You can have lower bandwidth between iMIS Desktop and iMIS appservers, because the only traffic between them is HTML. To improve bandwidth and speed up website performance, see Enabling HTTP Compression - IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0.
Servers
■ To protect your investment, choose servers that you can upgrade (memory, processors, and storage).
■ Add an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to servers, to smooth shut downs after power loss.
■ Implement RAID. RAID 5 is best; RAID 1 is typical, depending on what your server can accommodate.
□ RAID 5 array: 3 drives of the same size
□ RAID 1 array: 2 drives of the same size
□ No RAID: 1 drive
■ Schedule and verify regular disk backups to tape, reserve disk, or other sufficiently sized storage.
Note: Installing iMIS on the same server as Microsoft Exchange Server is not recommended or supported.
Cost cutting
■ If you have less than 4 GB of memory, do not invest in the Enterprise edition of Windows Server.
■ If you have a small implementation and can work within the size limitations, use Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition instead of Microsoft SQL Server.