A Practical, Proven Transformation Program for Intelligent Device Manufacturers

1. W H I T E PA P E R
Helping You Leverage
On-Demand Service

2. Helping You Leverage
On-Demand Service
Overview • System Architecture – powerful hardware for top performance
Flexera Software, is the leading provider of electronic software and reliability from Sun®, Dell™, Citrix®, IBM®, and Juniper
delivery and management (ESDM) solutions for software Networks
producers and intelligent device manufacturers worldwide. • Disaster Recovery – enterprise tape backup, offsite archive
Flexera Software’s FlexNet® Producer Suite on-demand service and a recovery data center mitigate devastating risks
has a proven record of helping technology companies reduce • Customer Support – 24/7/365 customer support is provided
customer support and operational expenses, accelerate delivery to respond to customer needs
for revenue recognition purposes, and create closer, more
profitable relationships with their customers. The following provides detailed information on each of these
elements of the Flexera Software data center architecture.
Flexera Software’s core offering, FlexNet Producer Suite on-
demand service, is a web-based delivery and support solution Data Center Facilities
that enables technology companies to easily deliver, track and The FlexNet Producer Suite on-demand data center facilities
manage the software, licenses and other digital content they reflect Flexera Software’s commitment to the strongest possible
distribute to their customers around the world. The on-demand foundation for long-term sustained growth. This “best of breed”
service can be rapidly implemented and seamlessly integrated strategy ensures that our facilities offer:
with any software company’s website, satisfying the increasing
demand for electronic delivery of applications and updates • Robust power infrastructure with the highest level of
to optimize the software fulfillment and management process. reliability
Flexera Software’s on-demand service powers business-to- • State-of-the-art heating / ventilation / air conditioning
business technology providers, including: EMC, Sybase, Borland, system
Autodesk and RSA. • Cutting-edge fire detection and suppression systems
• Structural integrity that meets or exceeds seismic design
Flexera Software recognizes that a secure data center requirements of local building codes for lateral design forces
architecture is the foundation of our on-demand service and • Physical security: On-site security 24/7/365, biometric
of paramount importance to technology companies and their systems, CCTV digital camera coverage
customers, and for our own operations. The Flexera Software
Data Center represents an investment of millions of dollars and Flexera Software is committed to using the best resources
more than 10 years of dedicated development to meet the available for every aspect of its data center facilities. For this
demanding and continually evolving needs of the enterprise. reason, we
chose SAVVIS to provide the physical environment for Flexera
Each of the following features of the Flexera Software data Software’s primary datacenter, located in Silicon Valley. SAVVIS
center architecture design is continually being refined: was selected because of its strong commitment to physical
security and overall operational experience.
• Data Center Facilities – physical security, cooling and power
are provided by SAVVIS Communications Corporation. This co-location center is housed in a custom-designed building
• Network Architecture – our high-capacity best-of-breed with raised floors, advanced cooling systems, and seismically-
network is connected to multiple Internet providers for fast, braced racks. This facility offers the widest range of physical
worldwide connectivity security features, including advanced smoke detection and fire
suppression systems, motion sensors, 24/7/365 secured access,
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3. Helping You Leverage On-Demand Service
video camera surveillance and security breach alarms. It also System Architecture
maintains a sophisticated multi-layer power generation system Flexera Software’s careful attention to the network architecture
in the event of a long-term power outage. Flexera Software’s design for performance, scalability, and availability also applies
recovery data center, located in Sacramento, California, is to the system architecture design. Flexera Software uses best-in-
constructed to support Flexera Software on-demand service in class systems from manufacturers such as Dell, Sun, and IBM.
the event of a disaster at the primary Silicon Valley data center.
The primary purpose of this site is to guarantee that critical The FlexNet Producer Suite on-demand web, application, and
services can be restored in the event of a sustained outage database server systems are configured for redundancy and hot-
caused by a disaster. swap replacement of components. These server class machines
have multiple power supplies, multiple network interface cards,
Network Architecture hardware mirroring of boot drives, and RAID configurations for
Flexera Software’s high performance network infrastructure database server storage. The on-demand web server farms consist
provides fast, secure and reliable delivery of your products of multiple web and application servers and allow for systems
around the globe. redundancy, load balancing and easy scalability.
All network equipment (routers, switches, firewalls and load Flexera Software selected the IBM Informix database products,
balancing devices) have been implemented in a redundant and matched those products to specific requirements within the
configuration. Each implementation has a failover connection architecture. For example: two transaction database servers run
to a secondary device of equivalent performance. This Informix, performing real-time replication of all transactions; two
architecture ensures continuous availability from port, power, or separate ESD (electronic software delivery) database servers also
full device failure. run Informix. Both perform real-time replication of all
software images.
Internet-facing network connections utilize the BGP routing
protocol over redundant border routers to guarantee availability Should a catastrophic failure of a web server render it unusable,
and the best path to Flexera Software customers. the Citrix Netscaler load balancing appliances will remove the
webserver from the farm and will prevent new customer sessions
Flexera Software employs the following top two Internet service from being sent to that server.
providers:
Monitoring and Support
AboveNet – The AboveNet fiber optic network provides metro Flexera Software is committed to the highest levels of availability
access, long haul services, and IP transit (Tier I IP provider) to and performance. Flexera Software’s highly-skilled support
the major business centers in the U.S. and London. AboveNet’s engineers monitor bandwidth, availability, and capacity of
portfolio of managed services solutions enable enterprise servers. FlexNet Producer Suite On Demand’s performance
customers to rise above legacy networks to create truly routinely exceeds 99.9% monthly system uptime.
customized door-to-door optic networks. AboveNet enables real-
time information exchange wherever and whenever it’s needed. Systems Management
Whenever Flexera Software adds resources to the existing
SAVVIS Communications Corporation – The SAVVIS network servers, the Citrix Netscaler administratively removes a server
consists of a global backbone, a high performance network from receiving new connections and waits for all customer
architecture with industry-leading public and private interconnect sessions to complete. When the session is complete, FlexNet
arrangements. The SAVVIS backbone links strategically-located Producer Suite on-demand managers perform any needed
SAVVIS Internet data center LANS with fiber paths from multiple upgrades, bring the server back up for testing and introduce it
vendors, ranging in speed from OC-3c(155Mbps) to O-12c back into the farm without interfering with service availability.
(622Mbps). This “mesh “configuration eliminates single point-
to-point fiberlink failures, ensures redundancy, and allows Disaster Recovery
uninterrupted flow of data across the network. Flexera Software’s Flexera Software takes precautions to anticipate and to prevent
ISP connections are split between two border routers so that the a catastrophic problem from completely disrupting data center
failure of one still provides connectivity through the other and operations. Should a natural disaster or other catastrophe render
the connected ISPs (see diagram). After passing through one the on-demand service primary data center inaccessible, Flexera
of the two border routers, traffic moves to the core switching Software will activate the recovery plans for the Sacramento
architecture, which provides the DMZ and connection to Flexera recovery data center. In addition to this secondary data center,
Software’s redundant firewall architecture. From there, traffic Flexera Software protects critical information resources through
continues through the core switching architecture onto redundant regular tape backups and the vaulting of duplicates at a secure
load balancers. All traffic for specific services (HTTP, HTTPS and off-site tape storage facility.
FTP), on Flexera Software’s server farm is load balanced. Each
server in the farm has physically separate Ethernet adapters
to the core switching architecture for redundancy in case of a
network interface card or core switch failure.
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4. Helping You Leverage On-Demand Service
Internet Current Internet Service Providers
Flexera Software continually monitors and evaluates service
AboveNet SAVVIS SBC
providers and emerging network technologies in order to retain
the best level of service.
BGP AboveNet:
• Network spans more than 2,000 points of presence in
West Coast Secure North America, Europe, and the Pacific Central US
Rim.
Hosting Facility • Private Network Access Points that Bypass Public Exchange
Hosting Facility
• Intelligent Route Management Technology
SAVVIS:
• Backbone with high performance network architecture
• Public and private inter-connect arrangements
SAVVIS SBC
Web Server Applications Server Server Farm
Flexera Software’s Data Center Architecture
Flexera Software uses industry-leading backup software from Continuous access to information assets and software delivery
Veritas and tape libraries from StorageTek. This data protection and management services – with limited downtime or service
solution for UNIX and NT environments provides fast, reliable interruptions – is a critical business requirement for technology
data-center strength backup and recovery. It also automates the companies. Flexera Software makes every effort to provide
management of offsite media. It handles the ejection of duplicate technology companies and their customers with the best
backup tape media to be sent to the vault and the injection of datacenter architecture possible, to ensure their business
“expired” media to be brought back from the vault for reuse. needs are met – today and in the future. For far less than the
cost to build and maintain a basic in-house ESDM system,
Duplicate backup tape storage is at a secure, offsite vault facility technology companies, and their customers and partners,
located outside of Silicon Valley. Tape transportation and can benefit from the advantages of the Flexera Software on-
vaulting are provided by a leading, nationally-known service demand scalable architecture, robust digital delivery, release
provider to assure the security and privacy of the data being management capabilities, automated export compliance, and
transported and stored. other continually enhanced functionality, to deliver and manage
critical services and intellectual property.
Customer Support
Flexera Software provides 24/7/365 support to its customers. About Flexera Software
During normal customer service business hours, experienced Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic solutions
personnel are immediately available to assist customers who for Application Usage Management; solutions delivering
call the on-demand service support center. During non-business continuous compliance, optimized usage and maximized value
hours, callback service is available from on-call support experts to application producers and their customers. Flexera Software
to assist customers. is trusted by more than 80,000 customers that depend on
our comprehensive solutions- from installation and licensing,
A Foundation for the Future entitlement and compliance management to application
Flexera Software architects designed an infrastructure to support readiness and enterprise license optimization - to strategically
the rigorous standards and growing demands of technology manage application usage and achieve breakthrough results
companies’ ESDM service needs. Flexera Software offers a realized only through the systems-level approach we provide. For
system that scales for enterprise digital delivery, entitlement more information, please go to: www.flexerasoftware.com
management and customer volumes, and that offers the highest
levels of availability, physical security, and performance.
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5. Flexera Software LLC Schaumburg United Kingdom (Europe, Japan (Asia, For more office locations visit:
1000 East Woodfield Road, (Global Headquarters): Middle East Headquarters): Pacific Headquarters): www.flexerasoftware.com
Suite 400 +1 800-809-5659 +44 870-871-1111 +81 3-4360-8291
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA +44 870-873-6300
Copyright © 2011 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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