HEALTHCARE / PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY

Discover how our products have helped those in the healthcare sector

Customer TypeHealthcare / Pharmaceutical
Customer SectorHealthcare
Source StorageLegacy Compellent Array, Legacy Data General AX4, 2 NetApp Arrays
Target StorageHPE 3PAR
Number of Hosts & Clusters24
Host TypesWindows 2003/2008, Oracle Enterprise Linux
Host ApplicationsDocumentum, SharePoint, SQL Server, SAP/Oracle, Trackwise, Other Misc Backup/Mgmt
Replication TypeLocal (2 sites)
Number of DMS and model2 x CMO4000
Insertion MethodPhysical

CHALLENGES

SOLUTION

RESULTS

• Very complicated existing storage environment, due to disparate configurations, different SANs, and the inability to share and collapse data

• Uptime was a primary requirement; applications needed to be up and available

• Extensive cabling moves were necessary, because previous SANs were configured without considering best practices

• End user was resource constrained; only one dedicated IT engineer at customer site

• Eliminated the complication, collapsed all the data onto a single HPE 3PAR array

• Documented all cut-over procedures ahead of time

• Sayers and Headwaters Group planned, executed, and supported this migration flawlessly

• Insertions were transparent; migration and cut-over occurred without a single issue

• Focused on getting the migration done quickly and making sure applications were up and available as much as possible

• Services implementation team’s herculean effort made this project possible and successful

THE STORY

After several years of acquisitions, a global healthcare company’s data center had grown unwieldy. Concerns about application performance, data center sprawl, broken disaster recovery strategies, and lost productivity forced this healthcare behemoth to take action. After an extensive review of its environment, the decision was made to move from a Dell EMC and NetApp environment to a more cohesive HPE 3PAR architecture.

The state of the existing storage environment was not conducive to data migration, as three separate SAN islands would have to be collapsed into a single dual-fabric SAN, a process that would require also replacing a number of old Brocade switches during the migration. Considering the extremely complicated environment, the data migration solution also had to be flexible enough to migrate disparate storage arrays onto a single array with very little downtime. Additionally, with sensitive consumer healthcare information being involved, a focus on security was unquestionable.

Cirrus Data Solutions (CDS) worked with multiple partners on this project; Sayers and HPE managed the deployment of the 3PAR and new Brocade switches. As these activities were being conducted, the Headwaters Group worked with the customer to plan and execute the data migration as well as ongoing configuration of the new Brocade switches and 3PAR array during the final cut-over. Cirrus Data’s Cirrus Migrate On-Premises (CMO) ensured the migration of data was secure, efficient, and without risk.

For this project, the team created a test environment onsite to practice cut-over before it occurred. All cut-over procedures were documented before the actual cut-over took place. Thanks to this rehearsal, the insertions were transparent and the migration session and cut-over occurred without a single problem. Cirrus worked in the background by coordinating with the customer through their procedures and scheduling requirements to determine downtime and outage windows, the entire migration took place without disruption to the customer.

Throughout the entire project, the Headwaters team was able to validate each step of the process was error-free, due to the reporting capabilities within CMO. Each migration report, revealed that everything migrated and verified properly, with no errors, no security breaches, and no lost data. A positive ROI was achieved, and this healthcare giant can now focus on improving lives and continuing its business growth without concerns of its storage environment impacting these initiatives.