iProduction
Internet Production, Inc. chooses StoreVault for comprehensive replication solution
Customer Overview
IProduction’s IT infrastructure had comprised of 29 computers and 27 servers managing a total of 1.3 TB of data. Six servers were Solaris application servers using direct attached storage, three were Sun E250’s, and three were newer Sun V240’s.
The servers had server critical application software deployed, including databases, workflow/productivity applications, IPS, Apache and MYSQL. Application servers ran iProduction’s proprietary iPro IPS software. The Sun V240 servers were used to generate local content and then, via custom replication software, copy it to the local drives of one or more web-servers. Replication using this method proved to be slow and, on occasion, out of sync.
Chief among iProduction’s storage challenges was dramatic growth in the company infrastructure that precipitated a 100% per year increase in storage requirements. At that rate existing servers, both new and old, were quickly running out of space.
In addition to challenges caused by data growth, iProduction’s back-up scheme was in need of revision. Their ISP provided a daily tape backup service, but since tapes were administered offsite, both restoration and backup scheduling processes were slow and inefficient.
Solution: StoreVault
Cory Wagner, Manager of IT at iProduction, was looking for a comprehensive solution that would address his issues of limited local storage, replication, and back-ups, all within his tight budget. He looked at solutions provided by competing vendors, but none of them could match the StoreVault S500’s features at its price point. Cory had, in fact, been on the look-out for a NetApp NAS solution for years, but it wasn’t until he learned of the StoreVault that he could deploy a NetApp NAS solution that was within his budget.
iProduction’s IT environment now has four StoreVault S500 units deployed. Three are configured with 6x500GB Drives setup as three primary drives, two parity drives and one Hot-Spare. The fourth is configured with 8x500GB Drives setup as five primaries, two parity and one Hot-Spare. Cory also purchased licenses for CIFS, NFS, SnapRestore and Replication.
With StoreVault as an integral part of iProduction’s IT infrastructure, five server web clusters each with an associated application server and several Linux web servers now use StoreVault S500s for centralized storage through CIFS and NFS. This consolidation has lead to a marked improvement in efficiency since the server clusters are always consistent and as fast as the direct attached storage used previously.
Three S500s are now replicated to the last S500 for disaster recovery. With features like Snapshot and SnapRestore, Cory has saved considerable time when restoring accidentally deleted files. Replication using StoreVault’s Replication feature is also a faster and more efficient process with the S500 than with the previous in-house system. These efficiencies not only save time, they also reduce the development costs associated with managing and developing a proprietary in-house replication solution.
Customer Experience
From the stellar service while purchasing his S500 units from his reseller, Mocha Data, to the quick and painless four-hour installation, Cory’s experience with StoreVault has clearly been a happy one. “Steve Pheneger from Mocha Data was extremely helpful throughout the entire purchase and installation process of the StoreVault,” he noted.
StoreVault’s performance in iProduction’s IT environment has been exceptional. Cory recorded approximately 2,400 network file operations per second from a StoreVault using just three primary drives. He observed that with StoreVault as a part of their network, they have yet to notice a performance threshold. His future plans for his StoreVault unit include using SnapManager for SQL.
“It works so well that we don’t have to spend time writing our own replication programs,” Cory told us. “It simplifies our configuration, which saves time when setting up new customer web sites. With StoreVault, we have developed a highly scalable and reliable publishing platform.”
Customer Benefits
StoreVault has allowed iProduction to consolidate its storage strategy and reduce the expenses associated with upgrading individual servers with direct attached storage, a savings estimated at $1,000 per application server. With StoreVault’s Snapshot and SnapRestore features, backups and restores are fast and easy. Additionally, replication has greatly streamlined the disaster recovery process, eliminating some old worries.
A comprehensive feature set, exceptionally competitive price point, and the reliability associated with all NetApp products made StoreVault the perfect solution for iProduction’s storage issues.
