To get everything I required, StarWind was the best bang for the buck. It allowed us to use our existing hardware to build the required cluster, which is still running to date.
Mervyn Sheppard, ICT Manager
PROBLEM
Before StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) deployment, Fitzstone Limited had an aging, outgoing server with VMware ESXi on top, hosting all the company’s virtual servers. There was also one replacement server with a SAN and an updated version of VMware ESXi where all the VMs had been transferred to. The company had the architecture called the “Inverted Pyramid of Doom,” when two redundant virtualization host servers are connected to two redundant switches and a single SAN device. Virtualization hosts are completely dependent on a network, which, in turn, dependent on a single SAN. The company had a situation when everything was based on a single point of failure (SPOF) and all the means of protection were built on this fragile foundation. Is it possible to talk about redundancy in this case? Yes, that’s probably. But to be exact, it’s possible to talk about redundancy without reliability. To avoid the problem of the “Inverted Pyramid of Doom” and ensure business continuity, Fitzstone Limited looked towards setting up a VSAN as an alternative. The company evaluated several options, including VMware vSAN, but refused them because of the price and difficult licensing conditions.
SOLUTION
Fitzstone Limited has chosen StarWind VSAN because it met the main company’s requirement – to ensure business continuity through the creation of a failover cluster. Thanks to StarWind VSAN, which allows scaling storage and computer power upwards, the company got rid of the SPOF situation and eliminated the problem of “Inverted Pyramid of Doom.” Compared to other virtual SAN solutions, StarWind software-defined storage was much cheaper and had support for both VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V. In addition, StarWind offered simplified licensing conditions where, for the effective operation of the quorum, licensing of the third node was not required. Each update of StarWind VSAN brings additional features and improvements, thus meeting the constantly evolving business needs. Thanks to StarWind VSAN, the company received all the required for its IT environment – fault tolerance, scalability, and high availability – more bounce for the ounce.
About the Company
Fitzstone Limited is the support body for internal administration for Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan legal firm, located in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s a full-service commercial firm organized into five practice areas, such as Commercial, Real Estate and Land Development, Advocacy and Litigation, Intellectual Property and Estates and Trusts.
Company Profile
Legal Service Provider
Contact Person
Mervyn Sheppard,
ICT Manager