We purchased our StarWind HCAs almost 3 years ago with the hope that they
would simplify our environment, and they’ve done exactly that. We’ve been
running about 50 VMs since we implemented everything, with zero downtime.
Ryan Butler, Senior System Administrator
PROBLEM
Before implementing StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), Inflexion used to have a complex virtualization infrastructure consisting of three Dell servers, two SANs for storage, and a switch connecting everything. This made it difficult for the sole sysadmin to manage and maintain the virtualization platform. The company was looking for a turnkey hyperconverged platform to simplify its infrastructure management and reduce high maintenance costs. HCI Appliance (HCA) was cost-effective and had great reviews, making it an easy decision for the company.
SOLUTION
StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA) allowed Inflexion to remove a significant amount of hardware from its environment, simplifying its network documentation and configuration. This made it easier for the sysadmin to focus on the virtual machines (VMs) and the services they provide. Since implementing StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), the company has been able to run 50 VMs with zero downtime. Proactive monitoring has been great and identified a couple of issues along the way, which the fantastic support team helped to resolve. The company has been thrilled with the StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA) performance and reliability, as well as the great support team behind it. Additionally, HCI Appliance (HCA) has allowed Inflexion to reduce the number of individual servers that were needed to renew for maintenance. Since implementing a StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA) solution, the company hasn’t had to purchase any new server equipment as they have plenty of capacity to grow.
| StarWind HCI Appliance Configuration | |
| Appliance Model | HCA P-Spec 11.5 |
| Cluster Size | 2 nodes |
| Cluster density | 4U |
| Servers | Dell PowerEdge R740xd |
| CPU | 2 х Intel Gold 5120, 2.2 GHz, 14 cores, 28 threads per node |
| Memory | 16 x 32GB Dell DDR4 RDIMM 2400Mhz (512 GB total) per node |
| Cluster Storage Capacity | 26.8 TB of SSD storage |
| Disk Configuration | Dell Perc H740LP Adapter 8GB NV Cache 7 x Dell 1.92TB 6Gbps SATA Mix Use TLC 2.5″ SSD S4610 per node Dell BOSS 2 x 240GB M.2 SSD (RAID 1) |
| Networking | Mellanox ConnectX-4 CX4121A Dual Port 25GbE SFP+ Full Height Intel X520 Dual Port 10Gb SFP & I350 Dual Port 1Gb RJ45 rNDC |
| Hypervisor | ESXi 6.7 |
About the Company
Inflexion is a U.S.-based nonprofit consulting group that partners with educators to help them better prepare their students for life after high school. Inflexion was formerly known as the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), changing its name as it shifted from a focus on state and federal policy to one of direct partnerships with educators.
Industry
Education, Consulting
Contact Person
Ryan Butler, Senior System Administrator