Hardware

hardware prerequisites

server hardware

Currently, you need a server (physical or virtual) that is able to run the regify Provider Appliance based on CentOS6.
There are no additional hardware requirements to the server, but we recommend a minimum of

• quad-core processor
• 8 GB RAM
• 160 GB hard-disk space

Most common, a virtualized environment is used for hosting the regify-provider software. We are fine on this, but take care about a redundant solution. If you are using visualization, we recommend to use two different hosts to serve two regify-providers.

Using two servers (with the above specification) together with a load-balancer are able to offer the service to a few thousands of regify-users with no problems.

cost estimate examples

The cost estimates are based on real prices taken in December 2011. Please consider, that most companies do not need to buy all the devices. In many cases, the usage of existing VPN routers, backup devices or loadbalancers is a valid option.

cost estimation for a full redundant hardware setup incl. loadbalancer

2x Rack-Servers for running the regify Provider Appliance ([example]): £2,800
2x Loadbalancer ([example]): £3,000
2x VPN router ([example]: £800
Network Stuff: £200
Backup-Device: £200
Overall cost: £6,900

cost estimation for a redundant 'fast restore' setup

2x Rack-Servers for running the regify Provider Appliance ([example]): £2,800
1x VPN router ([example]: £400
Network Stuff: £200
Backup-Device: £200
Overall cost: £3,600

Please understand, that it is not possible to tell you a price for virtualized setups. This mainly depends on your existing virtualization environment.

performance considerations

The overall performance depends on different factors:

• internet connection bandwith (the faster, the more performance)
• usage-level (some users may not use regify every day, others surely will)
• mass-sending (in that case, you need fast machines and Internet connection)
• database configuration (you can optionally run a separate MySQL cluster using replication)
• cryptographic functions (if needed, you can add standard PC's to add more cryptographic power)

Here you can find more information about the regify Provider Appliance.

scalability

The regify-provider software is designed to get easily enlarged to fit grown needs of performance. The following options are available to boost performance by adding more hardware resources:

• add more webserver-instances using common load-balancer appliances
• add up to 10 cryptoserver-instances on each regify-provider on external hardware (standard PC's with Linux or Windows)
• use SQL load-balancing to spread database access to multiple servers (Master-Slave)
• add additional databases using Cross-Master replication
• outsource the e-mail sending jobs to dedicated servers

If you are planning a high performance solution, please feel free to contact us directly.

redundancy

To achieve best redundancy, we recommend you to set up at least two instances (real or virtual) on different physical hosts. To distribute the requests, a common load-balancer supporting session persistance will fit perfectly. Additionally, you should use two VPN routers to set up the two tunnels to the clearing-service. There are two VPN tunnels available for this.

vpn-router

Most IPSec compatible VPN routers will fit perfectly. It needs to be able to connect to Cisco VPN routers.

load-balancer

A load-balancer is not necessary, but highly recommended for a high redundant system. It needs to be able to

• work "session based" (route the same user to the same server)
• allow SSL offloading