Nexenta at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School

Nexenta Systems, Inc. announced that Kent-based secondary academy, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, has implemented two NexentaStor SAN solutions to support its entire VMware virtual environment.

With more than 900 pupils, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham
has a reputation for providing first-rate education. The school
recently was struck with the common issue of effectively storing
increasingly growing amounts of data. The school’s aging Intel SAN
storage solution was rapidly reaching capacity and, as a result, was
slowing down and not providing the performance required.

As the Intel solution was unsuitable for expansion, the school’s IT
Network Manager, Dave Munro, reached the decision that the storage
infrastructure required an upgrade. Under pressure to make the most out
of the school’s allocated IT budget, Munro enlisted the help of high
performance computing specialists VA Technologies. The aim was to find a
flexible and reliable storage solution at a competitive price. After
evaluating a range of solutions, Munro implemented two NexentaStor
solutions with the advice and guidance provided by VA
Technologieshttp://www.va-technologies.com.

Dave Munro explains: "Nexenta’s OpenStorage solution is a clear
example of value for money. The solution provides us with
enterprise-class features, including hybrid storage pooling, unlimited
snapshots, deduplication, and thin provisioning but at half of the price
of other traditional storage vendors. The impressive features set also
is complimented by its flexibility, is extremely adaptable, and easily
can grow with us in the future."                 

Two 12TB SANs provide the academy with a total of 24TB of raw storage
capacity. NexentaStor is used to support the entire VMware
infrastructure; the first SAN unit connects to three VMware host servers
via fast 10GB SFP+ direct attached cables. This system acts as an ESXi
data store using NFS, and the need for extra file servers also is
eliminated as it directly provides CIFS shares. In addition, this unit
snapshots data at regular intervals throughout the day, allowing data to
be recovered by the schools IT Department when required. The snapshots
are synchronised with the second 12TB SAN, which is stored in a separate
location on site, providing a data protection structure.

Munro concludes: "By selecting Nexenta, we have increased the speed
and performance of our IT infrastructure dramatically. Nexenta was
significantly cheaper than any other storage solution. Automated email
alerts provided by the NexentaStor system, combined with its
straightforward usability, means that we have saved ourselves
significant amounts of management time. The initial advantages of the
Open Source unified storage solution are clear, and the team at Queen
Elizabeth’s are confident that its flexibility will ensure that these
benefits are continued into the future."

Evan Powell, CEO of Nexenta, said: "Nexenta helps to make virtual
machine management easier, as no other approach to storage can match the
scale and flexibility of the commercially supported OpenStorage-based
NexentaStor. It is a viable alternative to traditional legacy storage
vendors and provides the peace of mind and data protection that Queen
Elizabeth’s Grammar School requires."