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Infrastructure

Ipsator’s Infrastructure Overview: Building for Reliability, Agility, and Scale

An in-depth look at Ipsator’s complete infrastructure strategy—across on-prem, cloud, development, backup, and security—supporting mission-critical systems.

Ipsator’s Infrastructure Overview: Building for Reliability, Agility, and Scale

At Ipsator, infrastructure isn’t an invisible backend—it’s the foundation that empowers every service we build. From running mission-critical platforms to supporting modern workflows across healthcare, tourism, and civic tech, our infrastructure has been engineered for agility, reliability, and scale.

This post offers a consolidated view of our infrastructure landscape: what we’ve built, how we maintain it, and the rationale behind the systems that support everything we do.


1. Hybrid Cloud Core: AWS, Proxmox, and ESXi

Our infrastructure strategy is rooted in a hybrid model—marrying the elasticity and maturity of Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the control and customization of on-premise virtualization.

AWS Cloud (Production Backbone)

All production workloads—web applications, APIs, databases, asset delivery, monitoring, and analytics—are hosted on AWS. We leverage:

  • CloudFront, WAF, ALB/ELB for delivery and protection
  • EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda for compute and storage
  • CloudWatch, IAM, S3 Glacier for monitoring, access control, and archival

On-Premise Compute (Dev, QA)

To support rapid development and cost-efficient iteration, we maintain a powerful on-premise setup:

  • Proxmox Cluster with 5 enterprise-grade nodes, enabling up to 40 VMs (8 vCPUs / 8 GB RAM each)
  • VMware ESXi stack for legacy simulations, partner demos, and isolated compatibility tests

This combination gives us the flexibility to match workloads to the right environment while optimizing for cost, compliance, and control.


2. Development & Staging Environments

Fast iteration is a strategic differentiator. At Ipsator, developers have access to isolated, near-production environments—complete with mirrored configurations and data flows.

  • Development and Staging environments run on-prem to accelerate cycles and reduce cloud costs
  • UAT environments are deployed on AWS to match production fidelity
  • All internal services are securely exposed via Cloudflare Tunnel
  • CI/CD pipelines via Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Vercel and Nelify push changes automatically
  • Dedicated environments exist for design previews, QA, integration testing, and external review

The outcome? Fewer surprises at deployment, tighter feedback loops, and greater developer velocity.


3. Data Protection: Environment-Specific Strategies

We operate with the mindset that backups are only as good as their restore reliability. Our strategy varies by environment to remain both pragmatic and robust.

AWS Production: 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

  • 3 copies: Primary + versioned snapshots + archive
  • 2 types of storage: EBS/RDS + S3
  • 1 offsite: S3 Glacier (Deep Archive)

With automated rotation policies and quarterly restoration drills, we ensure our Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) targets are consistently met.

On-Premise Backups (Proxmox & ESXi)

  • Synology NAS for daily VM and file-level snapshots
  • Weekly encrypted vault syncs offsite
  • Multi-version backups ensure rollback flexibility across test and internal environments

Our backup policies are tightly integrated into our operations—not bolted on after the fact.


4. Networking: Designed for Throughput & Transparency

Network architecture is often overlooked until it becomes a bottleneck. We’ve proactively invested in a high-performance, scalable network stack.

  • UniFi-managed network powers all internal traffic with centralized control
  • 1 Gbps leased line ensures minimal latency and maximum transfer rates
  • Layer 2+ switching between clusters supports isolated VLANs per project

Whether syncing environments, testing performance at scale, or moving heavy artifacts, our network moves as fast as we need it to.


5. Security Architecture: Guardrails, Not Gatekeepers

Security is not about barriers—it’s about building systems that are resilient and recoverable.

  • WireGuard VPN controls all ingress to on-prem systems, combining speed with modern encryption
  • RBAC + Least Privilege across infrastructure, repositories, and tooling
  • Full audit logging and regular credential rotations
  • Simulated breach scenarios and pen-tests scheduled quarterly

We don’t just keep attackers out—we prepare for what happens when they get in.


6. Monitoring & Observability: From Code to Conversion

Great systems don’t just run—they report, reflect, and adapt. Our observability stack spans across platforms:

  • Grafana + Graphite for operational metrics and service health
  • Sentry (self-hosted) for real-time error monitoring
  • CloudWatch + Better Uptime for alerting and escalations
  • Custom Python scripts track user flows, bounce rates, and funnel drop-offs

This visibility helps engineering, support, and product teams converge on the same reality—and solve issues before they escalate.


Final Word

At Ipsator, we believe infrastructure is leverage. It’s not just what helps us ship faster—it’s what helps us sleep better.

By blending the best of cloud with the discipline of on-premise control, backed by proactive security and deep observability, we’ve built a stack that’s as versatile as the problems we solve.

As a company certified under ISO 27001, our commitment to information security, business continuity, and operational excellence is more than a philosophy—it’s a practice we uphold daily.

If you’re curious about any layer of this architecture—or considering how a similar approach could benefit your organization—we’re always happy to share more.

We don’t just build for now. We build for next.

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