Advanced Hosting Services for Diverse Needs
The computing facilities of hosting companies are designed to provide advanced hosting services to various clients according to their diverse needs, such as primary sites, secondary sites, third backup copies, and BCP sites. These facilities are planned, built, and operated with high redundancy and maximum protection to ensure continuous service at the highest level according to SLA agreements.
High Redundancy and Protection Levels
The computing facilities of these companies are built with the highest level of redundancy and are protected against a wide range of reference threats. This process requires meticulous planning, careful implementation, and continuous operation to the highest standards to ensure uninterrupted and resilient service for clients.
Defining Reference Threats and Scenarios
To ensure the operational continuity of the facilities, it is essential to define the reference threats and various scenarios they might face during routine and emergency situations. Reference threats are often considered in the context of physical protection only, but the physical threat is just a small part of the overall picture of threats that could disrupt facility continuity.
Scenarios Adapted to Israeli Reality
The reference scenarios defined for computing facilities in Israel include a wide range of unique scenarios adapted to the Israeli reality. These include scenarios related to the Ministry of Home Front Defense, IDF scenarios, scenarios from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications, as well as scenarios based on extensive experience gained from studying events that occurred in similar facilities in Israel and around the world. These scenarios were validated and intensified following the War of the Iron Swords.
Four Main Categories of Threats
The scenarios include internal events within the facilities and external events that affect or can affect their operation, such as power supply failures. They are divided into four main categories:
- Damage to physical infrastructure – events that could harm the facility’s infrastructure.
- Impact on the availability of human resources – harm to essential personnel needed to operate critical systems.
- Damage to external infrastructures supplying the facility – disruptions in the supply of electricity, water, communication, and other services.
- Changes in demand for services – increased demand for facility services resulting from client system failures, reflected in higher system output, increased number of employees, reduced fault handling times, and more.
Major Threat Families
The list of reference scenarios that affect or can affect the functionality and continuity of the facilities includes several major threat families:
- Natural disasters and climate events – earthquakes, wildfires, floods, snow, cold, extreme heat, and lightning strikes.
- External infrastructure events – fires in neighboring buildings, floods due to municipal infrastructure failures, and planned infrastructure works in the area.
- Strikes – delays in the arrival of equipment and the supply of essential items like fuel.
- Violent events and regional non-terror events – demonstrations, roadblocks, and mass events.
- Conventional warfare impacts – missile strikes, small arms fire, employee mobilization to reserves, sirens, and restricted access to the facility.
- Terror events – car bombings, terrorist infiltrations, and break-in attempts.
- Technical faults in infrastructure systems – technical failures and human errors.
- Cyber-attacks – attacks on the facility’s infrastructure systems.
- Pandemics and diseases – incapacitation of essential personnel.
Facility Planning Adapted to Reality
According to the reference scenarios, computing facilities and their operational methods must be planned in a resilient manner (at least Tier 3 according to UTI organization definitions for advanced facilities, backup at N+1 level or higher for systems, etc.) to provide an appropriate response to all possible scenarios, including adaptations for routine, war, and natural events in the country. Careful planning, implementation at the highest level, and continuous operation according to strict standards ensure that the facilities will continue to provide advanced hosting services tailored to client needs, guaranteeing the highest levels of availability and continuity.