Migrating infrastructure to the cloud in 3 business days

In this case, we will share how SIM-Networks specialists managed to carry out a full infrastructure migration for a medium-sized company in 3 business days.

What were the client’s expectations from the migration?

The client is an FMCG company with approximately 250 employees. By the time the project had started, the company’s IT infrastructure consisted of 7 local physical servers with virtualization. The company’s owners have decided to migrate the data into a data center in Europe. The data center in Germany, where SIM-Networks hosts its infrastructure, meets high data security standards. The company expected to retain flexibility in terms of infrastructure management, as well as full support during the migration process.

The cloud migration had to be carried out solely by SIM-Networks’ in-house specialists. The total volume of data that had to be transferred was 25 TB. While reviewing the documentation, we discovered that the infrastructure was modernized in multiple stages: new services were added, new resources were rented and employees came and left.

The IT infrastructure modernization was carried out without proper documentation. The client did not have an accurate description of the network topology, including the IP addresses of all nodes. Some questions posed by our consultants during the pre-project evaluation were left unanswered – no one in the client’s team had definitive answers. The client also requested that the migration be carried out covertly.

Client’s requirements:

• migrate the virtual & physical servers into the cloud with a few drives each: a file server, 2 data base servers and a connection broker;
• set up a network connection between the instances and set up the VPN SSTP protocol;
• organize reserve data copying using BaaS (Backup-as-a-Service).

The client's technical requirements

How did SIM-Networks experts implement the migration project?

SIM-Networks’ technical specialists audited the resources before migrating the IT infrastructure to the cloud. The results of the audit allowed our team to evaluate the difficulty of the upcoming transfer and to prepare a detailed plan.

Cloud solution developed by SIM-Networks engineers

Our team transferred the virtual machines into the public SIM-Cloud with little to no effect on the uptime of the client’s services. The client’s drives were adapted; our specialists converted the data into the necessary format and installed VirtIO drivers for working in the cloud.

Instances were deployed in the cloud instead of physical servers. During this process, our tech support team detected resources that were not being used rationally and optimized them. Workloads were distributed between cores and RAM blocks. The client’s expenses were lowered thanks to the exclusion of unnecessary computing resources.

The virtual Mikrotik router was deployed in the cloud; user access rights were also set up, as well as the SSTP VPN protocol. Among other tasks, SIM-Networks specialists:

• migrated the client’s domains
• gave a comprehensive consultation regarding the reissuing of SSL certificates.

The client was provided with a ready-for-use reserve copying service – SIM-Cloud BaaS. The service guarantees that the company’s data will be recovered in case of any malfunctions. Per the client’s request, we determined the optimal storage depth for backups and advised the client’s employees on BaaS management.

How did cloud deployment solve the client’s tasks?

The company’s IT infrastructure was transferred to SIM-Cloud – a public cloud deployed in a certified data center in Germany. Deployment in Europe gives client data legal protection due to German legislation, as well as physical safety:

• remote data storage;
• strict access control on the data center’s premises;
• fault-tolerant power supply.

The entire migration was carried out by SIM-Networks employees; the client’s staff were not involved. This project was carried out in just 3 business days. Reserve copies of client data are sent to remote storage in a data center in Germany, which gives the corporate services a high level of protection. The client’s employees were trained in backup management.

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