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PraxisIFM Selects StorMagic With IT Services Company Alternative Solutions

Previously using HPE Modular Smart Array 2040 SAN

Business Challenge
Originally established in 1972 and with 550 staff, PraxisIFM Group Limited is an independent, owner-managed financial services group of companies providing a range of bespoke professional services to private individuals, families and international corporate clients.

Praxisifm Deploys Stormagic Svsan Active Active Storage Cluster

It previously used a HPE Modular Smart Array 2040 SAN to protect its data. Given the its growth, the existing storage system needed to be enhanced in order to meet the developing needs of the organisation. The company also needed to replace a traditional SAN which was configured for asynchronous replication.

The PraxisIFM team engaged Alternative Solutions Limited, an IT services company that provides solutions across the Channel Islands and other jurisdictions worldwide, for recommendations.

Solution
Alternative Solutions deployed a two-node StorMagic, Inc. hyperconverged cluster at PraxisIFM’s Switzerland location to run local applications and were happy with the results. Following this deployment, it installed SvSAN as a two-node storage-only cluster to provide a highly available storage infrastructure for two locations, one in Guernsey and the other in Jersey, both self-governing British Crown dependencies.

Because of StorMagic’s stretch cluster capability, PraxisIFM was able to put the nodes in 2 different datacenters approximately 30 miles apart, and deliver the performance necessary for all the applications and users. Both sides of the cluster are actively processing data locally while synchronously mirroring to the other side for data protection. The main benefit of the stretched cluster is to prevent downtime if there is any type of outage at one of the sites due to power outages, fire, flooding, etc. The surviving SvSAN node will stay available and all servers and applications from the other site will continue to operate automatically. The highly available storage infrastructure supports locations and PraxisIFM users in Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, UK, Netherlands, Malta, USA, UAE and soon Hong Kong and BVI.

This solution is provisioning storage to 16 HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers running approximately 200 Hyper-V VMs for all applications required within the business, such as file data, SQL databases, Citrix desktop applications for 600 users, and other accounting applications. On the SvSAN storage-only cluster, the Predictive Storage Caching feature is being used to accelerate performance by using the SSD drives as a R/W cache for the most active data and saving the spinning disk drives for less frequently used data. This lowers the overall cost of the storage infrastructure but improves performance.

PraxisIFM chose StorMagic SvSAN for reasons, including:

  • Active-Active Cluster Configuration: SvSAN enabled PraxisIFM to create a storage-only highly available active-active cluster configuration in datacenters that are 30 miles apart and is used with 16 application servers.
  • Performance: Expansion of the group meant that the customer required greater resilience and enhanced performance with lower risk of downtime. SvSAN means their assets are available 24×7 and has the required performance to meet their business requirements.
  • Cost Effective: SvSAN is on average 50% less expensive than traditional physical SAN alternatives and its Predictive Storage Caching feature optimizes performance with a mix of SSD and spinning disk drives and keeps disk drives costs to a minimum.
  • Support: Since deployment, SvSAN has been reliable, so little support has been required. All front line support is provided by Alternative Solutions and when contacted, StorMagic’s support team has been responsive.

Technical Configuration

Praxisifm Deploys Stormagic Svsan

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