# Deploying to Production

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**Gain knowledge**

Before you start your deployment, take a moment to learn about Defguard.

The following articles will help you make deployment decisions and understand which features you may want to configure afterward. Make sure to read them carefully.

* [Defguard's features](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/about/features-overview)
* [Defguard's architecture](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/in-depth/architecture)
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**Choose your deployment strategy**

Decide which deployment approach best fits your infrastructure and security requirements. Choose from different [deployment strategies](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/setting-up-your-instance#choose-your-deployment-strategy) and their recommended use cases.
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**Prepare your environment**

Make sure your infrastructure meets all [system and network requirements](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/deployment-strategies/hardware-os-network-and-firewall-recommendations).
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**Deploy using the chosen strategy**

Deploy your instance using the chosen [strategy](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/setting-up-your-instance#choose-your-deployment-strategy). Make sure to follow the right [deployment sequence](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/setting-up-your-instance#initial-deployment-sequence).
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**Test if everything works as expected**

Follow our [guide](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/deployment-strategies/production-deployment-verification-guide) to test if your deployment in secure and works as expected.
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**Configure features**

Follow detailed descriptions of [Defguard's features](https://github.com/DefGuard/docs/blob/v1.6/deployment-strategies/broken-reference/README.md). As you follow along, you can adjust the configuration directly within your instance.

For a detailed list of all configurable things through environmental variables, options or configuration files follow [this reference](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/deployment-strategies/configuration).
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**Your secure infrastructure is ready for use**

Optional but recommended additional steps:

* [Securing internal gRPC communication](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/deployment-strategies/grpc-ssl-communication)
* [Configuring backups](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/setting-up-your-instance#backup)
* [Setting up for high availability and failover](https://docs.defguard.net/2.0/deployment-strategies/high-availability-and-failover)
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