Skip to content

Datacenter & private cloud

A private cloud where losing a node is an incident, not an outage

Fabric design, storage, HA and provisioning automation — on the same principles as the platform running in our own datacenter.

The problem

The private cloud is one rack that simply kept growing

Servers were added whenever they were needed; there is one storage box and everything depends on it; the network runs through two switches whose configurations no longer match. Nobody counts capacity, because N+1 only ever existed in a slide.

  • Storage is the single point of failure
  • Host versions have drifted apart
  • Machines are built by hand, without templates
  • A restore has never been run end to end

What we deliver

A private cloud where losing a node is an incident, not an outage

Fabric design

Leaf/spine or collapsed core, LACP, MTU, a separate management network and out-of-band access.

Compute and capacity

Host count with N+1, workload placement and a growth forecast.

Storage topology

ZFS/RAID levels, NFS/iSCSI, snapshots, replication and disk health monitoring.

HA and a failover test

Losing a node is actually performed and the result is written down.

Provisioning and templates

cloud-init, templates and the API — a hand-built machine becomes the exception.

Backup and a restore rehearsal

Policy, retention and a scheduled restore into a scratch environment.

Architecture

Architecture

  1. 01Physical
    • Redundant power
    • Cooling
    • OOB
  2. 02NetworkLeaf-spine
    • EVPN-VXLAN
    • LACP
    • MTU 9000
  3. 03ComputeVirtualization cluster
    • KVM / Proxmox
    • VMware
    • HA
  4. 04Storage
    • Ceph
    • ZFS
    • NVMe
  5. 05RecoveryTested restore
    • Snapshots
    • Off-site
    • DR runbook
Datacenter fabric: compute, storage and network in one HA domain

Operator consoles

Operator consoles

These exact systems run on the group's own infrastructure — the screenshots are processed before publication.

Blurred Proxmox VE interface showing cluster nodes, containers and resource usage.

The virtualization cluster

A multi-node Proxmox cluster: KVM virtual machines and LXC containers, NFS/HA storage, a separate backup NAS and migrated ESXi hosts. This website runs on it too — in a container, on the same infrastructure we sell.

Proxmox VEKVM / LXCHA storageESXi migration
Blurred Proxmox Datacenter Manager — aggregate state of nodes, virtual machines, containers and backup servers.

8 clusters from one interface

Proxmox Datacenter Manager brings independent Proxmox VE clusters into one place. In our own infrastructure it manages 8 of them, spread across separate physical locations — 3 of those outside Georgia. The frame also shows the scale: 211 nodes online, 1,480 virtual machines and 127 containers — one view, one procedure.

Proxmoxmulti-clustermulti-sitePBS
Blurred vSphere Client — the virtual machine inventory and one machine's resource usage.

vSphere — the cluster, its hosts and the workloads on it

A vCenter with several ESXi hosts and the services placed on them: web, billing, a domain controller, backup agents. This is the environment where VMware and Proxmox coexist — part of it still on vSphere, part already migrated. One team operates both, under one backup policy.

vSphereESXivCentermigration
Blurred TrueNAS interface showing storage pools and disk health.

Storage — ZFS pools and replication

ZFS storage on a RAIDZ2 topology — 12 disks in one vdev, roughly 33 TiB usable, ECC memory with most of it serving as ZFS cache. And the part that matters: disks with errors, zero; scrub and scan, clean. This is the layer underneath the virtualization cluster and the backups.

TrueNASZFSRAIDZ2ECC

Capabilities

Capabilities

Every item is marked: verified production experience, or engineering capability.

An own datacenter in Georgia

Proven

Enterprise-grade hardware with redundant power and cooling — the group's hosting platform runs there.

  • Cisco
  • Juniper
  • Arista
  • Dell
  • HP

A KVM platform with hourly billing

Proven

RAID 10 SSD storage on Xeon Gold, with a dedicated IPv4 and a 1 Gbps port per virtual server.

  • KVM
  • RAID 10 SSD
  • Xeon Gold

Multi-cluster Proxmox

Proven

Eight independent Proxmox VE clusters in separate physical locations managed from one interface — three of them outside Georgia.

  • Proxmox VE
  • Datacenter Manager
  • PBS

VMware vSphere clusters

Proven
  • vSphere
  • ESXi
  • vCenter

ZFS storage and replication

Proven
  • TrueNAS
  • ZFS
  • NFS

Backup and tested restore

Proven
  • Proxmox Backup Server
  • Cyber Backup
  • Snapshots

EVPN-VXLAN fabric

Capability
  • EVPN
  • VXLAN
  • Arista
  • Open vSwitch

Distributed storage (Ceph)

Capability
  • Ceph
  • NVMe
  • CRUSH

Provisioning automation

Proven

In the group's hosting a server is created from the API, with no operator involved.

  • API
  • cloud-init
  • Control panel

Process

Process

  1. 01

    Audit

    Hosts, storage, network, licences and workloads.

  2. 02

    Design

    Target fabric, capacity and storage topology.

  3. 03

    Build

    Nodes, network, storage and backup — documented.

  4. 04

    Migrate

    Workloads in stages, with a rollback plan.

  5. 05

    Validate

    Losing a node and restoring are performed, not assumed.

  6. 06

    Operate

    Monitoring, capacity and the patch cycle.

Technology stack

Technology stack

Compute
Proxmox VEKVMVMware vSphereLXC
Storage
TrueNASZFSRAID 10 SSDNFSiSCSICeph
Network
AristaLACPOpen vSwitchEVPN-VXLAN
Backup
Proxmox Backup ServerCyber BackupZFS snapshots
Automation
cloud-initAnsibleTerraformAPI
Monitoring
ZabbixPrometheusGrafanaLibreNMS

Engagement model

Engagement model

Project

A one-off scope: audit, migration or implementation with a fixed outcome.

Retainer

Monthly engineering hours — specialist access on demand.

Co-managed

NetWizard and your in-house team together, with split responsibility.

Fully managed

We own the agreed operational scope end to end.

Use cases

Use cases

From one host to a cluster

Everything runs on one server and rebooting it stops the company. We build a cluster with shared storage and HA, and move the workloads in stages.

A second site for recovery

The backup sits in the same building as production. We add a second site with replication and write down which service comes back in which order.

Building a hosting platform

Selling virtual servers with automated provisioning and billing — exactly what runs on the group's own platform.

FAQ

FAQ

Do we need Ceph?

Often not. On a three or four node cluster, ZFS with replication is simpler and cheaper; Ceph earns its place when node count and growth justify it. The choice follows the capacity plan.

Can we host with you instead?

Yes — the group has its own datacenter and hosting platform. We look at both options: building on your site, or hosting with us, to the same engineering standard.

What RPO and RTO do you promise?

We do not quote a number before the design. Targets follow workload criticality and are proven by a tested restore — a figure announced without a test is not a promise.

Tell us about your infrastructure