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Reference designs

Architecture

Reference architectures and architectural patterns for networks, identity, security, cloud and resilience.

13 articles
A reference architecture schematic: users, remote workforce and branch office feed edge connectivity, DNS, perimeter security, the access layer and the core network, which reaches compute, applications, data, the data centre, cloud platforms and backup, with monitoring and security operations spanning the estate.
Reference architecture: from users, edge and perimeter through the core network to compute, data, cloud and backup, with monitoring across all of it.

Cloud Architecture

Cloud Architecture

Azure Environment Architecture

A landing zone pattern for Azure: management group hierarchy, subscription strategy, hub and spoke networking, policy baseline and centralised logging.

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Cloud Architecture

Hybrid Microsoft Architecture

A reference design for organisations running Active Directory on premises alongside Entra ID, Microsoft 365 and Azure.

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Resilience

Resilience

Backup Architecture

A layered protection design that survives ransomware: local speed, secondary media, offsite distance and an immutable, credential isolated copy.

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Resilience

High Availability Architecture

A design pattern that removes single points of failure across every layer of a service's dependency chain.

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Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture

Aligning technology capability with business capability through documented current state, target state and a sequenced roadmap.

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Enterprise Architecture

Microsoft 365 Organisation Architecture

A reference design for a cloud first organisation running identity, collaboration, endpoint management and security in one Microsoft 365 tenant.

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Identity Architecture

Identity Architecture

Identity Architecture

The design of directories, identity providers, authentication flows, privilege tiers and lifecycle processes that govern all access.

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Network Architecture

Network Architecture

Network Architecture

The structural design of an organisation's networks: segmentation, routing, redundancy, edge services and policy enforcement points.

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Network Architecture

Remote Workforce Architecture

A design that supports work from anywhere without extending implicit network trust to every home and hotel network.

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Network Architecture

Small Business Reference Architecture

A defensible design for an organisation of roughly 10, 100 people, cloud first, with a small on premises footprint.

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Security Architecture

Security Architecture

Security Architecture

The deliberate arrangement of controls across identity, endpoints, applications, data, network and infrastructure, aligned to a maturity model.

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Security Architecture

Security Monitoring Architecture

A design for collecting, normalising, retaining and analysing security telemetry across identity, endpoint, network, cloud and application layers.

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Security Architecture

Zero Trust Architecture

A reference design in which every access request is authenticated, authorised and encrypted per session, with policy enforced close to the resource.

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