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Imagine Fulfillment Services (IFS) based in Torrance, CA continues to invest in hardware and software as a technology driven company! The IFS backend platform is Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. IFS has now invested well over $2 million on hardware and software since the company was founded in 1997. IFS is never satisfied with the status quo and continues to make new technology investments for our clients. Some of the investments are as follows:
-1- Redundant hardware in our servers In each of our critical servers we have hardware redundancy in power supplies, memory, fans, NIC's, hard drives, etc. This means if there is a component level hardware failure we have enough redundancy in independent servers to allow the redundant component to take over the tasks of the failed component. This happens "on the fly" upon failure.
-2- Redundant Hard Disk Mirroring In each of our critical servers we have hard drive mirroring using RAID 1. What this means is that the operating systems and locally installed applications are mirrored onto multiple hard drives. Both drives maintain a synchronization writing data to each other to contain the same information. Again if there is a hardware or software failure there is a fail over path for the mirrored drive to take over.
-3- Redundant Server Clustering In each of our critical servers we have server clusters. A server cluster is consistent of 2 or more nodes, each node being an independent server. This means that we have a "standby" server waiting to take over in the event of a total failure. The independent cluster nodes share a heartbeat connection between them to detect failures. In the extreme case where one of the servers fails entirely (including all redundancy within that server) the backup node will take over the functionality of the failed server. This cluster server also handles software instances for load balancing between nodes to handle data requests and server tasks more efficiently.
-4- Attached Storage Units with redundancy Each of our cluster groups uses an attached storage unit for storing data. This attached storage unit had full redundancy with multiple data paths to each server, and utilizes RAID5 strip mirroring with online spare for data redundancy. If a hard drive fails, the online spare will automatically move into place to fill the void. This unit also has controller, power supply and various other redundancies.
-5- Backup Events on a Software Level We have events that run through out the day that do software backups of mission critical data onto file servers.
-6- ATL Hardware Tape Backup System We have an auto tape loader that does a full backup of all data on all critical servers on a magnetic tape. The tape backup uses a robotic arm to load tapes into the drive mechanism for archiving data and is capable of storing 5.6 terabytes of data without the need to switch cartridge sets.
-7- Disaster Recovery Software We have installed disaster recovery software on our critical servers. The primary purpose of this software is to allow faster recovery from disaster failures.
-8- Fire resistant protection for tapes Magnetic backup tapes are store in a fire resistant safe to protect against fires.
-9- UPS Units We have UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply Units) that are made to protect our hardware from power surges, power spikes, brownouts, power losses, etc. Our UPS Units are rated to maintain power to our servers for a period of 4 hours.
Community awareness and involvement are important to IFS. We actively contribute to our community by supporting many humanitarian causes such as the Wheelchair Foundation, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. IFS practices "green" and utilizes recycled corrugate materials in our daily operation for a cleaner environment. .
