Reliable Infrastructure Hosting in Microsoft Cloud
Azure Hosting for WEBCON with Server Backups
Introduction
Within the manufacturing industry, operational continuity and efficiency are essential. Production environments depend on reliable systems and infrastructure, where downtime, delays, or technical failures can have a direct impact on productivity and business performance.
When Woodmansterne approached Dolphin IT Solutions seeking a business process management solution that could integrate with their production systems, reliability and resilience were key priorities. Dolphin IT Solutions recommended WEBCON BPS as the ideal platform to support their workflow and process automation requirements, alongside a fully managed cloud hosting solution designed to deliver performance, scalability, and operational security without compromise.
Challenges
Woodmansterne required more than simply a business process management platform. They needed a hosting and infrastructure strategy capable of supporting business-critical operations while reducing the need to maintain a dedicated internal systems architecture team.
Because the WEBCON environment would support operational processes linked to production activities, infrastructure reliability and availability were particularly important.
The organisation required a managed hosting solution that would:
- Eliminate the burden of managing internal infrastructure
- Maintain system availability and performance
- Provide regular system patching and maintenance
- Deliver secure and reliable backups
- Ensure robust disaster recovery capabilities
- Support business continuity in the event of infrastructure failure
As the hosting provider and infrastructure partner, Dolphin IT Solutions would assume responsibility for managing the environment and ensuring rapid recovery should any system disruption occur.
Given the operational importance of the platform, a proactive and resilient infrastructure strategy was essential.
Our Solution
Dolphin IT Solutions designed and deployed Woodmansterne’s WEBCON BPS environment within Microsoft Azure, hosted securely inside a dedicated area of our own Azure tenant.
To maintain strict separation and security, the solution was deployed independently from both Dolphin’s internal systems and other customer environments hosted within the tenant. This approach ensured strong isolation, security, and governance while retaining the flexibility and scalability of cloud infrastructure.
The deployment focused not only on application delivery but also on creating a cost-effective and highly resilient hosting platform capable of supporting long-term operational requirements.
Azure Hosting and Cost Optimisation
To maximise value while maintaining enterprise-grade performance, Dolphin IT Solutions implemented Azure Reservations across eligible cloud resources.
Also known as Azure Reserved Instances, these reservations allow organisations to commit to resource usage over one- or three-year periods, enabling Microsoft to better forecast data centre demand.
In return, significant discounts are applied to qualifying resources.
By carefully identifying and reserving appropriate infrastructure components, Dolphin delivered a hosting environment that balanced performance and scalability with cost efficiency, helping Woodmansterne benefit from predictable and optimised cloud expenditure.
This ensured the WEBCON environment remained commercially sustainable while maintaining the reliability expected from a production-supporting platform.
Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategy
Because the WEBCON platform formed a critical part of Woodmansterne’s operational environment, comprehensive backup and disaster recovery measures were built into the solution from the outset.
Dolphin IT Solutions implemented a layered backup strategy covering both application data and server infrastructure.
For database protection, a structured SQL backup plan was configured, including:
- Full SQL database backups performed nightly
- Hourly differential backups during operational working hours
- Managed retention and recovery procedures
This approach ensured minimal potential data loss while providing flexible recovery points aligned with operational requirements.
Beyond database protection, infrastructure-level backup procedures were also implemented.
The server environment was protected through:
- Weekly full server snapshots
- Nightly differential server backups
- Full hard drive imaging and recovery capability
- Secure off-site backup storage
By combining database and infrastructure backup strategies, the solution delivered comprehensive protection against data corruption, accidental loss, or infrastructure failure.
Proactive Monitoring and Infrastructure Management
Maintaining infrastructure availability requires more than backups alone.
To support long-term reliability and minimise operational risk, Dolphin IT Solutions implemented continuous monitoring through Azure Monitor.
Azure Monitor provides real-time visibility into infrastructure performance, resource utilisation, and system health, enabling potential issues to be identified and addressed proactively before impacting users or production processes.
The monitored environment provided insights into:
- Server and application health
- Resource performance and utilisation
- Capacity trends and optimisation opportunities
- Infrastructure alerts and incident response requirements
- Ongoing maintenance and patching needs
This proactive monitoring model allowed Dolphin’s infrastructure support team to plan ahead, optimise system performance, and reduce the likelihood of unplanned disruption.
Combined with scheduled patching and managed maintenance, the solution minimised the need for manual intervention while maintaining a consistently reliable hosting environment.
Results
The completed solution delivered Woodmansterne a secure, scalable, and fully managed WEBCON BPS hosting platform built to support operational continuity within a demanding manufacturing environment.
By hosting the solution within Microsoft Azure and managing infrastructure on Woodmansterne’s behalf, Dolphin IT Solutions removed the need for dedicated internal infrastructure management while ensuring high levels of availability, resilience, and security.
The implementation of Azure Reservations helped optimise cloud costs, while comprehensive backup procedures and disaster recovery planning ensured rapid recovery capabilities and strong business continuity protection.
Continuous monitoring through Azure Monitor further strengthened platform reliability, enabling proactive maintenance and infrastructure optimisation.
With a resilient cloud environment and fully managed support in place, Woodmansterne gained a future-ready business process management platform capable of supporting production operations with confidence and minimal operational risk.
