The trend to transfer a mail server from a local server to a cloud one has ceased to be an option, but has become an urgent need for any medium and large business. In this article, we will present arguments in favor of cloud infrastructure.
Mail in the cloud
Remote access
Local infrastructure ties employees to the office. This is especially inconvenient in the case of corporate mail, a key means of communication with clients and colleagues. Hosted in the cloud provides access to mail from anywhere in the world. This is useful for organizing remote work, especially if the company employs people from different countries. If the company works only in office mode, mail in the cloud is an opportunity to solve an urgent problem with a colleague who, for example, is on a business trip.
Fast and easy scaling
Local infrastructure is scalable only through the acquisition of new equipment. For the company, this is an additional cost. In addition, it makes it difficult to quickly respond to the increase in mail server load as the company grows. On the contrary, the configuration of the public cloud is instantly changed through the control panel. You don’t need to replace components to change cloud settings. This is possible because the cloud is a flexible resource pool of many physical servers. For example, a company can increase the amount of storage, add RAM or processor cores. Thus, the company can respond to an increase in load in a couple of minutes and add only as many resources as are necessary for tasks.
Cost reduction
A corporate mail server based on local infrastructure is a lot of expenses. Among them are the purchase of equipment, taking into account the redundancy of components, an OS license, an email platform, a room for a data center, electricity, a cooling system, salaries of system administrators. By organizing these conditions, the company spends time and money that could be used to achieve core business goals. On the contrary, hosting an email server in the cloud saves business resources. Content conditions, support and update costs are the responsibility of the provider; you only pay rent. Unlike a local server, the cloud configuration can be changed at any time and you pay only for the capacity used. So the company does not overpay for extra resources.
Convenient data backup
Corporate mail is a service for which it is important to provide data backup in case of equipment failures. In the case of local hosting, this is done by the IT staff of the company. Most likely, it is unprofitable for a small company to buy expensive equipment for backup storage in addition to existing servers. Remote site for increased security – additional costs for renting a room. Setting up cloud backups is much easier. In the cloud infrastructure, a backup service is available – BaaS (Backup-as-a-Service). The user of such a service receives a ready-made tool that automatically creates and saves backups. Some providers also offer to store backups on offsite storage. For example, SIM-Networks has a BaaS Remote service – mail server backups will be stored in a separate data center.
High security
Organizing security systems in a local data center is a difficult and unprofitable task for many companies. It is more profitable and more reliable to place the company’s mail in a secure data center of the provider. Reliable providers use hardware-based disk encryption, secure communications, VPN tunnels, firewalls, and DDoS protection in the clouds. Correspondence will also be protected by physical security systems in the data center. For example, we store customer data in an ISO/IEC 27001-certified data center in Germany. The infrastructure is protected from intruders, and German laws guarantee data security.
High fault tolerance
For the stable operation of the mail server, you need to ensure fault tolerance. This means that you need to duplicate expensive server components, connect redundant power supplies and network communications. It should be remembered that the redundancy options in the server are limited by the architecture. This problem is solved by moving to the cloud. The cloud is built on the basis of a cluster of servers – in the event of a hardware failure, the download will instantly transfer to another server. Such a breakdown will not affect the operation of the client’s services. At the same time, redundancy of components in servers is provided at the architectural level. This greatly reduces the likelihood of critical failures. Infrastructure can also be deployed across multiple Availability Zones. An Availability Zone is an isolated environment based on independent hardware within a single cloud. For example, you can host a cloud mail server in the 1st availability zone and create a copy in the 2nd zone. Such a solution will increase the fault tolerance and availability of the server by 2 times. This is possible because failures in one Availability Zone do not affect the operation of systems in another zone.
Cloud provider support
Server maintenance imposes many tasks on the company’s IT staff; infrastructure needs constant support. In the case of cloud rental, this is done by the provider’s employees. So the IT staff of the company will have more time for the immediate tasks of the business. The specialists of a good provider also simplify the work with the client part of the cloud. If your employees have questions or problems, technical support will help at any time of the day. In addition to basic support, some providers offer additional services, such as infrastructure administration and cloud migration.
Conclusion
Renting a cloud for a mail server is a solution that saves a company from a number of tasks and problems. This is beneficial – the company does not need to buy equipment or spend a budget on server support. In addition to savings, clouds provide benefits that will improve the quality of work with a company’s corporate mail. Among these advantages are stable operation due to fault tolerance and remote access to the service. Company correspondence needs reliable protection. This requires security measures against intruders, as well as backup to save data in case of force majeure. The cloud uses comprehensive data protection tools, and back-ups can be configured in a few clicks through the control panel.
A good cloud service provider will greatly simplify the work of the company in terms of infrastructure. When choosing a cloud to host your mail server, pay attention to CSP technical support. It is worth choosing a supplier who will advise and solve problems at any time of the day. Also find out if the provider can move corporate mail to the cloud. This service frees your IT staff from a time-consuming and costly task.
With 365Solutions, one of the most reliable cloud service providers, you can be confident that your correspondence is stored securely. Visit our website and check out our wide range of cloud services and products to choose from at affordable prices. You can contact us at sales@365solutions.com for more information.