The DB server should be based on the latest Windows Server, be virtualized and run the latest SQL Server possible. 

DB Folder Structure

Most Sys-Admins have a preference where/how to store the DBs, and this can strongly vary between deployment sizes, redundancy etc. The following is simply an example, but your needs can vary widely. Using a different structure will usually not impact security etc. but possibly change how safe your failover is or how your backup strategy works. Recommendation: 

  1. Create a separate virtual Drive (we'll call it D:\) in the DB server. 
  2. Create a root folder called "DB" for all your DBs
  3. For each customer create a Folder for their database, like
    d:\DB\Project 1\
  4. Place the files for this database and logs in the same path. Note that in high-end enterprise scenarios, you would usually put DB and logs on separate paths. 

DB File and Folder Permissions

todo: 2bf

SQL Server Configuration

todo: 2bf