Overview -

XRACK – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

XRACK provides Clients with infrastructure products and services to host compute workloads in secure, enterprise-grade data centers. This is commonly referred to as The Cloud, Cloud Computing, or IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service.

XSTRA offers the following three Cloud solution types:

PUBLIC CLOUD – Highly Elastic Workloads – Premium SLA and Uptime Availability
Azure (Microsoft) Microsoft-operated, globally distributed public cloud platform designed for scale and availability Broad IaaS and PaaS service catalogue Consumption-based pricing; predictable costs typically require long-term commitments Web-based management and automation tooling Managed disk abstraction with platform-imposed size and expansion constraints Platform-managed storage resilience and integrity protections Enterprise-grade Azure Australia infrastructure, Tier III–equivalent design Diverse and redundant connectivity within Microsoft’s global cloud network Service Level Agreement (SLA): 99.9% Infrastructure, Backup & DR Considerations Major hyperscale cloud providers, including Microsoft, operate ongoing hardware refresh programs. Microsoft has publicly stated that Azure server lifecycles have been extended from earlier 4-year cycles to approximately 7 years as part of efficiency initiatives. Hardware refresh timing is managed internally by Microsoft and is not exposed as a contractual guarantee. Azure does not natively include disaster recovery planning (DRP) or historical, point-in-time incremental backups by default. While services such as Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery are available, they must be explicitly designed, enabled, configured, and billed separately. Azure-based backup and recovery services typically remain within Microsoft’s control plane unless an independent third-party platform is introduced. XRACK Private Cloud as an Independent Backup & DR Target: XRACK, (see below), provides a secure, cost-effective, and independent destination for backing up Azure-hosted workloads and data, ensuring recovery capability outside of Microsoft’s platform.

PUBLIC CLOUD – Highly Elastic Workloads – Premium SLA and Uptime Availability

Azure (Microsoft)

Microsoft-operated, globally distributed public cloud platform designed for scale and availability
Broad IaaS and PaaS service catalogue
Consumption-based pricing; predictable costs typically require long-term commitments
Web-based management and automation tooling
Managed disk abstraction with platform-imposed size and expansion constraints
Platform-managed storage resilience and integrity protections
Enterprise-grade Azure Australia infrastructure, Tier III–equivalent design
Diverse and redundant connectivity within Microsoft’s global cloud network
Service Level Agreement (SLA): 99.9%

Infrastructure, Backup & DR Considerations
Major hyperscale cloud providers, including Microsoft, operate ongoing hardware refresh programs. Microsoft has publicly stated that Azure server lifecycles have been extended from earlier 4-year cycles to approximately 7 years as part of efficiency initiatives. Hardware refresh timing is managed internally by Microsoft and is not exposed as a contractual guarantee.

Azure does not natively include disaster recovery planning (DRP) or historical, point-in-time incremental backups by default. While services such as Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery are available, they must be explicitly designed, enabled, configured, and billed separately.

Azure-based backup and recovery services typically remain within Microsoft’s control plane unless an independent third-party platform is introduced.

XRACK Private Cloud as an Independent Backup & DR Target:
XRACK, (see below), provides a secure, cost-effective, and independent destination for backing up Azure-hosted workloads and data, ensuring recovery capability outside of Microsoft’s platform.

PRIVATE CLOUD – Low-Elasticity, Low Cost, High Performance Workloads
XRACK by XSTRA XRACK is XSTRA’s managed Private Cloud platform, purpose-built for budget friendly, low-elasticity, high-performance workloads. Private Cloud – Logical Single-Tenancy XRACK operates as a managed private cloud using logical isolation. Each Client is provided with dedicated VLANs, independent routing and firewall domains, and isolated virtual machines. While underlying physical compute hardware may be shared, no networking, identity, or security boundaries are shared between Clients. Built – Not Bought! XRACK is engineered and operated by XSTRA, not resold from a public hyperscaler. XSTRA-managed, Australian-hosted infrastructure designed for superior performance and direct control Transparent capacity increases using local object storage End-to-End Chain of Custody: You always know exactly where your data is physically located Turn-key Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) options Hot and Warm replication options Hosted in an Aussie Broadband Tier III facility Independent carrier-grade MikroTik virtual router per VLAN 24×7 Pro-Support included Best Price Guarantee: At least 25% less than Azure & AWS No lock-in contracts – best pricing on a month-to-month basis Supports Dynamically Expanding Disks that exceed 2TB – unlike limits imposed by Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA): Aim for 95% availability. (Average past 10 years – delivering better than 99.9%) Hardware Lifecycle & Reliability Model XRACK infrastructure follows a repair-and-maintain lifecycle model. Physical servers and storage systems remain in service as long as they continue to meet performance, reliability, and monitoring standards. Individual components such as disks, power supplies, memory, and controllers are continuously monitored and replaced upon fault or degradation, prioritising stability and cost efficiency over age-based replacement. Data Protection – Built In, Not Optional Protecting Client data is paramount within XRACK. Backup and disaster recovery are baked into the Private Cloud platform by design. XRACK provides multi-layered protection with recovery to multiple historical time points, including granular and incremental restores, with retention periods of up to 13 months or more.

PRIVATE CLOUD – Low-Elasticity, Low Cost, High Performance Workloads

XRACK by XSTRA
XRACK is XSTRA’s managed Private Cloud platform, purpose-built for budget friendly, low-elasticity, high-performance workloads.

Private Cloud – Logical Single-Tenancy
XRACK operates as a managed private cloud using logical isolation. Each Client is provided with dedicated VLANs, independent routing and firewall domains, and isolated virtual machines. While underlying physical compute hardware may be shared, no networking, identity, or security boundaries are shared between Clients.

Built – Not Bought!
XRACK is engineered and operated by XSTRA, not resold from a public hyperscaler.

XSTRA-managed, Australian-hosted infrastructure designed for superior performance and direct control
Transparent capacity increases using local object storage
End-to-End Chain of Custody: You always know exactly where your data is physically located
Turn-key Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) options
Hot and Warm replication options
Hosted in an Aussie Broadband Tier III facility
Independent carrier-grade MikroTik virtual router per VLAN
24×7 Pro-Support included
Best Price Guarantee: At least 25% less than Azure & AWS
No lock-in contracts – best pricing on a month-to-month basis
Supports Dynamically Expanding Disks that exceed 2TB – unlike limits imposed by Azure
Service Level Agreement (SLA): Aim for 95% availability. (Average past 10 years – delivering better than 99.9%)

Hardware Lifecycle & Reliability Model
XRACK infrastructure follows a repair-and-maintain lifecycle model. Physical servers and storage systems remain in service as long as they continue to meet performance, reliability, and monitoring standards. Individual components such as disks, power supplies, memory, and controllers are continuously monitored and replaced upon fault or degradation, prioritising stability and cost efficiency over age-based replacement.

Data Protection – Built In, Not Optional
Protecting Client data is paramount within XRACK. Backup and disaster recovery are baked into the Private Cloud platform by design.

XRACK provides multi-layered protection with recovery to multiple historical time points, including granular and incremental restores, with retention periods of up to 13 months or more.

HYBRID CLOUD – Purpose-Built Solutions Using Azure + XRACK
Hybrid Cloud is a custom-designed solution that combines the strengths of Public Cloud (Azure) and Private Cloud (XRACK) into a single, cohesive architecture tailored to the Client’s specific requirements. Designed – Not Packaged Hybrid solutions are engineered individually by XSTRA to balance performance, cost, availability, security, and compliance. Elastic or globally distributed workloads hosted in Azure Performance-critical or cost-sensitive workloads hosted in XRACK Secure interconnect between environments Unified networking, access control, and monitoring Data residency and compliance requirements respected Hybrid Cloud is ideal for Clients who require enterprise-grade availability in some areas, while also demanding predictable costs and superior performance in others.

HYBRID CLOUD – Purpose-Built Solutions Using Azure + XRACK

Hybrid Cloud is a custom-designed solution that combines the strengths of Public Cloud (Azure) and Private Cloud (XRACK) into a single, cohesive architecture tailored to the Client’s specific requirements.

Designed – Not Packaged
Hybrid solutions are engineered individually by XSTRA to balance performance, cost, availability, security, and compliance.

Elastic or globally distributed workloads hosted in Azure
Performance-critical or cost-sensitive workloads hosted in XRACK
Secure interconnect between environments
Unified networking, access control, and monitoring
Data residency and compliance requirements respected

Hybrid Cloud is ideal for Clients who require enterprise-grade availability in some areas, while also demanding predictable costs and superior performance in others.

Comparison	Public Cloud (Azure)	Private Cloud (XRACK)
Best suited for	Highly elastic, globally distributed workloads	Predictable, performance-critical workloads
Elasticity	Very high	Low to moderate (planned growth)
Performance	Shared, variable	High, consistent, predictable
Backup & DR	Optional services; separate configuration and cost	Baked-in; multi-layered restores and long retention
Data residency	Region-based	Known physical location
Disk formats	Managed disk abstraction	VHD & VHDX; supports >2TB dynamic disks
Hosting standard	Tier III–equivalent design	Tier III facility
SLA	99.9%	95% SLA (historically >99.9%)
Contract terms	Long-term commitment for best pricing	No lock-in, month-to-month

We Are the Experts
XSTRA specialises in designing Cloud solutions tailored to each Client’s unique requirements Clients may self-manage their infrastructure or engage XSTRA for full managed services

5.1. Overview

XRACK – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Contact Us today to discuss your Cloud infrastructure requirements