1. This will require high-quality network connection between remote offices and server farms. Ideally, this should be a dedicated channel with low delay, but you can also use the technology of virtual private network (VPN) and keep in touch over the existing Internet connection. Choosing the type of communication depends on the type of access you want for your business, and the tools that you can allocate for this purpose. If you don’t need to frequently transfer large amounts of information between the server center and office, you may not need a channel with a broadband – just use the T1 lines or similar.

However, if you often transfer large amounts of data, you have to think about establishing partial or complete DS3 connection.

2. You have to spend money on switching (KVM, keyboard, video card and mouse) over IP for all computer servers based on PC. For Unix systems require Internet access to the server console. Most likely, you will not use any of these ways: It is better to use RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol – RDP) to remotely manage Windows and SSH for remote administration of Unix or Linux, because these systems are much faster than the KVM-based IP or console switches.

Sometimes, however, you may require access to a keyboard / monitor or console port server. For example, you may need to access the BIOS setup screen, you will need to enter single user mode in Unix, etc. Many manufacturers offer Spurious card remote control, but it seems much easier to manage, unified solution KVM over IP.

3. It is strongly recommended to make use of controlled over an IP network extension, enabling remote reboot completely “hung” servers. As we know, most service providers offer free server colocation that  remotely reboots servers, but experience shows that it takes too much time. When the system is denied, the time – the money, and seem like an eternity in the 15 minutes when you sit helplessly in office, waiting for the technician remote data center to reboot your server. With access to the extension with a remote control, you can make yourself rebooting many times faster.

4. Provide your technical support hardware firewall and high-speed Internet access, to connect to the data center and access a remote server. This will give your staff a reliable and effective tool for managing all remote servers. This approach is very important for the effective support of on-demand, and it is also useful.

However, if you follow the advice listed above, the benefits of server colocation in a specialized center will outweigh the disadvantages caused by this choice.

Sometimes you need to do so that the user, after connecting to VPN, could use the server colocation as a default gateway that is accessed through the Internet. Even if you already have a default gateway. The problem that arises here is: how to make sure that after installing the default gateway, encapsulated in the VPN packets can achieve this same VPN-server? Of course, if all users are in certain circumstances, it is possible to cheat a bunch of scripts that would route to the VPN-server through the old default gateway, but here in OpenVPN option appears, which allows you to automatically adjust routing as expected:

1. Prescribe the route to the VPN-server over the current default gateway.
2. Set a new default gateway through the VPN-server

This option is called the redirect-gateway. If you really decided to distribute internet through OpenVPN, here’s the technique:

In the configuration file, add a client:
redirect-gateway
dhcp-option DNS <new DNS-server>

On the server set up, respectively, ip forwarding + NAT:
/ Etc / sysctl.conf:
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1

# Sysctl-p

# Iptables-t nat-I POSTROUTING-s $ VPN_IP_RANGE-o $ INET_IFACE-j SNAT – to-source $ SERVER_EXT_IP

And it works. At least for customers with Windows XP. Not tested with others.

Red Hat Directory server is a LDAP-server for centralized storage of application settings, profiles and user preferences, access rights in a unified network storage, as well as for their management from a single administrator console.
What is the benefit it will bring you?

Red Hat Directory Web Hosting Server provides a single repository for all information related to settings and permissions. Because of this it simplifies management of users and improves safety.

The main features of Red Hat Directory Server are:

• Red Hat Directory Server fully implements the LDAPv3, which allows it to operate in a heterogeneous environment
• Fully bi-directional synchronization of events with Active Directory
• the ability to replicate with four master server that allows you to build a flexible infrastructure, including geographically dispersed
• Replication with multiple master servers can greatly improve the resiliency and availability information
• no single point of failure
• High performance
• changes and almost all administrative actions do not require a stop or lock the system
• when changes are made, information is transmitted only to the nearest master server, then it is automatically propagated to other server colcation. All conflicts are automatically resolved on an interim basis. If automatic resolution is not possible, then poisoned by notifying you of a situation requiring human intervention
• graphical tools for administration
• Integration with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Integration with Red Hat Certificate System, which allows you to easily create a complete security solution, including in the case of very high standards
• Access and support through Red Hat Network

Platform support

Red Hat Directory Server can be installed on the following platforms:
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 3 (x86), 32-bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4 (x86), 32-bit
• Solaris 9 (SPARC), 32-bit
• Solaris 9 (SPARC), 64-bit
• HP-UX 11i for HP-9000 and HP Integrity servers, 64-bit