Lecture Notes: Key Concepts in IT Infrastructure and Security

Availability and Redundancy

• Availability: Expectation that systems/resources are operational when needed.
• Security Nuance: Ensure availability only to authorized users.
• Investment: Significant funds spent on redundant systems and complex monitoring to ensure availability.
• Uptime: Measured often as a percentage (e.g., 99.999%).
• Downtime Recovery: Key focus on recovery speed, involves root cause analysis and possible hardware/software fixes.
• MTTR (Mean Time to Repair): Time needed to replace non-working components.

Cost Considerations

• Initial and Maintenance Costs: Installation cost varies by platform; ongoing maintenance costs.
• Depreciation and Tax Implications: Factors in the total cost.

Responsiveness

• Expectation: Quick response from services; delays are noticeable to users.
• Factors Influencing Responsiveness: Varies with application functions and system usage.
• Elasticity: Ability to adjust application size and capacity based on demand.

Scalability and Security

• Scalability: Balancing cost and capacity needs; automatic scaling as a strategy.
• Security Measures: Must extend alongside scalability to ensure thorough monitoring.

Application Infrastructure

• Complexity: Applications consist of multiple components (e.g., web servers, database servers).
• Orchestration: Automatic deployment of cloud-based infrastructure.

Risk Management

• Transferring Risk: Cybersecurity insurance for financial loss recovery (e.g., ransomware).

Efficient Recovery Processes

• Malware Recovery Example: Comparing methods (manual reinstallation vs. image backup).

Patching Systems

• Importance: Regular updates and patches for security and functionality.
• Challenges: Some systems lack a patching process, increasing vulnerability.
• Additional Security: Implement firewalls for unpatchable devices.

Power Infrastructure

• Significance: Essential for all technological operations.
• Monitoring: Licensed electricians can provide future planning.
• Backup Solutions: Consider UPS or generators.

Cloud Computing

• Compute Component: Central processing unit for data tasks, can be scaled across cloud infrastructure.
• Flexibility: Ability to adjust compute resources to meet demand.