In my project I have to reduce the cost of hardware. Initially I had 10 servers including high-end, mid-range, and entry-level.
One scenario is I can design the Network One Database Server (high end) and one high-end backup database server.
One application server will run applications, Web services, domain authentication (high end) and One high end backup application server.
Remote client will log on through the apps server and send requests to the DB server.
The second model is to maintain four high-end servers and adopt network virtualization.
One important point is that three remote sites from which clients will request the servers.
My question is which architecture is better. I am not a network guy so explain the advantages and disadvantages of both with examples.