Architecture
A transparent, auditable architecture with separate management and data planes.
Reference architecture
An overview of the core layers and their functions.
- Data plane: mail, files, working together, AI inference
- Management plane: identity, policy, audit, monitoring
- Network plane: a gateway that checks every request
- Operations plane: MSP workflows and reporting
Architecture principles
Transparency, separation and auditability.
The architecture is designed to keep data flows transparent and to simplify compliance.
We separate management, data and network so that each plane has its own controls and logs.
The stack stays modular so that organisations can migrate in phases.
- Management and data logically separated
- TLS by default
- Open standards for export
Architecture in three dimensions
Transparent separation of management, data and network.
Management plane (identity, audit, policy), data plane (mail, files, AI) and network plane separated, each with its own access controls and audit logging.
All data flows run through authenticated API gateways. No direct database access from outside. In transit TLS 1.2 or higher, TLS 1.3 is supported. Cloudflare (US) sits at the edge of the network, for DNS and secure connections. Backups are stored in the Hetzner data centre in Falkenstein (Germany). Backups have been stored encrypted.
Backups in the Hetzner data centre in Falkenstein (Germany), on a separate disk and VM. Every night an encrypted copy of the databases and the mail goes to separate object storage at Hetzner, outside this server and also in Falkenstein.
Management vs data plane
Separation of management and user data.
| Plane | Function | Security |
|---|---|---|
| Management plane | Identity, policy, audit | MFA, least privilege |
| Data plane | Mail, files, AI inference | TLS, ACLs |
| Network plane | Routing | Gateway |
Resilience and DR
Continuity during outages and incidents.
- Backups in the Hetzner data centre in Falkenstein (Germany), on a separate disk and VM
- Every night an encrypted copy of the databases and the mail in separate object storage at Hetzner, outside this server and also in Falkenstein
- Monitoring with Prometheus and alerting by push message and email; no 24/7 on-call
Integration layer
Open standards and exportable data.
- OIDC for one Noveu login
- Open standards for mail and file formats
- Audit log per organisation, exportable as CSV
- After termination, your data back on request (CSV, JSON, SQL, MBOX for mail)
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the architecture.