Introduction

• In the last lecture, we learn that system administrators have lots of responsibilities
like maintaining infrastructure services.
• IT infrastructure services are what allowing organization to function.
• These include; connecting to the internet, managing networks by setting up the
network hardware, connecting computers through an internal network, etc.
• In this lecture, we are going to learn about the common IT infrastructure services
out there and what you need to know to start integrating them into an organization.
• We will also try to dig deeper into each infrastructure service individually.
• We will focus more on the physical infrastructure services like servers, along with
network infrastructure services that keep your company connected to the Internet.
• In short, we will be servicing all infrastructure services needs.
Overview
• Modern business is impossible to run without a convenient and
flexible IT infrastructure.
• Properly set and networked, technologies can improve back-office
operations, increase productivity, and make communication easier.
• IT infrastructure refers to components required to operate and
manage business IT environments.
• IT infrastructure can be used to deliver services or resources within an
organization, or externally to organization's customers.
• Carefully implemented IT infrastructure helps businesses meet goals
and even increase profit
IT infrastructure offers:
• The good user experience by providing smooth access to the
company’s product
• Real-time data exchange
• Increase in employees’ productivity
• Established cross-functional and interpersonal communication
• Customer satisfaction and better overall performance
 What is IT infrastructure?
• Information technology (IT) infrastructure are the components required to
operate and manage enterprise IT environments.
• IT infrastructure can be deployed within a cloud computing system, or
within an organization's own facilities
• IT Infrastructure is the hardware, software, and non-personnel resources
used to support, house, and run IT systems, according to the Information
Technology Infrastructure Library.
• This includes servers, routers, clouds, software, laptops, mobile devices,
and other equipment.
• An IT infrastructure is necessary for the operation and management of a
company’s IT services, both internal and external.
• Essential to any organization, a fully functioning infrastructure delivers your
business’ IT requirements to both your employees and customers.
• The infrastructure of a company includes all elements of its IT systems, such as:
• Network equipment – including routers
• Software – including operating systems
• Hardware – including servers
• Services – including backup provision
• Telecommunication – including internet cabling and telephone lines
• Data centers and other facilities which house infrastructure
• Computing platforms – including on-demand Cloud platforms
• Power equipment – including backup sources and uninterruptible power supplies
• Content systems – including CMS and document management systems
• Communication systems – including VoIP
• Information monitoring and security systems – including intrusion/attack detection software
• Any equipment used to develop, test, operate, monitor and support IT services
Defining IT Infrastructure
• Technology perspective: set of physical devices and software required
to operate enterprise
• Service perspective: set of firmwide services providing to customers,
suppliers, and employees
• Example: telecommunications services, data management services,
application software services, etc.
• The “service platform” perspective refers to analyzing the actual
services enabled by new technology tools.
• For example, a new PC might save an employee one hour per day in
wait time for information, dramatically increasing his value to the firm.
What Are the IT Infrastructure
Components?
• IT infrastructure components stand for a combination of hardware,
software, and networks.
• The system is designed to improve communication between
components, linking devices to printers, desktops to networks, and
servers to the cloud.
• There are a lot of ways to deploy, organize, and integrate components
of information technology infrastructure.
1. Computer hardware platforms
• Client machines Desktop PCs, mobile computing devices – PDAs, laptops
• Servers PC servers, Midrange systems, mainframe systems
• Top firms: IBM, HP, Dell, Sun Microsystems
• Dominance of Intel, AMD, and IBM 32-bit processor chips at the client level
• Server market increasingly dominated by inexpensive generic processors from
the same manufacturers
• Strong server market growth for 64-bit generic processors from AMD, Intel and
IBM
• Blade servers replace box servers
• Mainframes continue as a presence working as very large servers
2. Operating system platforms
• Integrated set of programs that manage computer hardware
• Client level: 95% run Microsoft Windows (7,10, etc.)
• Continued dominance of Microsoft OS in the client (95%) and
handheld market (45%)
• Server level: 85% run Unix or Linux
• Growing dominance of Linux (UNIX) in the corporate server market
(85%)
• Windows Server remains strong in smaller enterprises and
workgroup networks
3. Enterprise software applications
• A set of integrated software and a common central database for use in
nearly all of firm’s business activities.
• Enterprise application providers: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft (now Oracle),
and Siebel dominate this market.
4. Data Management and Storage
• Database software: DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL
• Physical data storage: EMC Corp (large-scale systems), Seagate, Maxtor,
Western Digital.
• Storage area networks: Connect multiple storage devices on dedicated
network
• The amount of new information in the world is doubling every three years, driving
the need for more efficient data management and storage.
• Oracle and IBM continue to dominate the database software market.
• Microsoft (SQL Server) and Sybase tend to serve smaller firms.
• Open-source Linux MySQL now supported by HP and most consulting
firms as an inexpensive, powerful database used mostly in small to mid-
size firms.
5. Networking/telecommunications
• Network operating systems: Windows Server, Novell, Linux, Unix
• Network hardware providers: Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, Juniper Networks
6. Internet platforms
• Hardware, software, management services to support company Web sites,
intranets, extranets.
• Web development tools/suites:
• Microsoft (ASP, .NET)
• IBM (WebSphere) Sun (Java).
• Independent software developers: Macromedia, RealMedia
• Open-source Apache remains the dominant Web server software, followed by
Microsoft’s IIS server.
• Sun’s Java grows as the most widely used tool for interactive Web
applications.
• Microsoft and Sun settle a long-standing law suit and agree to support a
common Java.
7. Consulting and System
Integration Services
• Integration services involves integrating data, and applications in a firm.
• Connecting new applications and systems to legacy systems
• System integration: Bringing together subsystems into one system
Software integration: ensuring new infrastructure works with legacy
systems.
• Implementing new infrastructure requires significant changes in
business processes and procedures, training and education, and
software integration.
• This is a task that firms struggle to achieve on their own, which drives
the need for these services.
Types of IT Infrastructure -
Traditional vs. Cloud
• All the components mentioned above are associated with the
traditional infrastructure.
• This model is commonly used by enterprise companies and managed
within their facilities.
• Those companies have data centers where they store and process
information.
• There is also a cloud IT infrastructure. It’s similar to the traditional
model, but cloud IT infrastructure tends to be more scalable
 Traditional infrastructure
• The traditional IT infrastructure usually
consists of hardware and software
components like servers, desktop
computers, enterprise software solutions,
and more.
• Servers are typically run and installed on
premises to provide employees access to
the required information and applications.
• The development team requires more
power and space to integrate traditional
infrastructure.
1. Traditional infrastructure
• In most cases, traditional IT infrastructure is more expensive to
set up and support.
• You need to buy costly equipment and allocate resources for
maintenance.
• The system has to be upgraded regularly to scale up data storage
or other services to support more users. Traditional IT
infrastructure tends to be the most secure data hosting solution.
It offers full control over your company’s apps and data.
When to choose traditional IT
infrastructure?
• You have an in-house IT department to install and maintain hardware.
• Your company works with software development and needs to update
various software solutions regularly.
• Your team runs different types of applications.
 2. Cloud IT Infrastructure
• Cloud computing gains popularity due to its convenience.
• What does cloud IT infrastructure mean? Instead of having physical hardware, all servers,
software, and networks are hosted in the cloud.
• So rather than spending money on buying physical servers in-house, you can rent the data
storage from cloud computing providers like Amazon paying for it on a pay-per-use basis.
• Cloud infrastructure describes the components and resources needed for cloud computing.
• You can create a private cloud by building it yourself using resources dedicated solely to you.
• Or you can use a public cloud by renting cloud infrastructure from a cloud provider like
Alibaba, Amazon, Google, IBM, or Microsoft.
• And by incorporating some degree of workload portability, orchestration, and management
across multiple clouds you can create a hybrid cloud.
Horizontal and Vertical Scaling
• There are two approaches to scaling out an infrastructure to add additional
resources: horizontal scaling (“scaling out”) and vertical scaling (“scaling
up”).
• Horizontal scaling involves adding additional servers while vertical scaling
involves adding more resources to existing servers.
• A good infrastructure plan will take both of these scaling approaches into
account, as there are times when one may be more appropriate than the
other.
• Initially, this consideration may be used to consider when to migrate from
one server to multiple servers.
• For larger infrastructures, the same logic can be applied at a larger scale.
Cloud Computing
infrastructure