Servaplex Ltd are a leading software supplier in Ireland.

Requirement

The Infrastructure team at Servaplex had a requirement for a migration solution that was fast, easy to use with no-downtime. We were moving Virtual Machines from Hyper-V core to ESX Server. Hyper-V server was still running on original release to manufacturing(RTM) so we needed to upgrade Hyper-V hardware HDD and memory & do a clean install of Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V. Unlike solutions that require servers to be offline during migrations, or migrate data from snapshots (leaving behind new data) we needed a solution that did not require servers to be offline during migration. With over 12 years experience with Double-Take products the Servaplex IT support team chose Double-Take Move.

Solution

We installed Double-Take management console on a Windows 7 workstation with a Double-Take Move licence. Using the console to prepare the source server (VM), we configured a provision machine on the ESX server. We then pushed a Double-Take agent to the source server as well as the provision machine on the ESX server. By using a provisioned machine, ESX Server will automatically create a new target machine using the provisioned machine already created on the ESX Server.

We then selected 'Migrate Server' from the Double-Take console, Double-Take starts to replicate data to the ESX Server without disrupting the source (live) server. After the replication is done, Double-Take automatically switches off the source server & mounts VMDK files of the newly created VM on the ESX Server then automatically starts the new VM. We had the option to execute this process manually or automatically.

Result

Flexible bandwidth limiting and compression allowed us to control how much bandwidth is used for the entire migration project. This enabled us to ensure quality of service for users during the migration. The successful result is a new server with the same sever name and IP address as the old(source) server & no disruption to the business users.

With Double-Take Move, we can choose to migrate an entire system – from file servers, application servers and domain controllers. In addition operating systems, applications and data can be moved easily from one server configuration to another. Double-Take Move continuously captures byte-level changes and replicates those changes to either new physical or virtual hardware, locally or remotely. By moving only the bytes that change, Double-Take Move uses the minimum bandwidth required.

The Infrastructure Team at Servaplex, including Selby Munyangane & Lyle Shore, recalls that migrating applications, systems and data has always been a challenge for IT staff. â€œUsing Double-Take Move, you can migrate from a physical server to virtual server or a virtual machine from one virtualisation platform to another. It automatically provisions new virtual machines for you with no manual configuration required. I would recommend this solution to my IT peers in other companies."

Servaplex specialises in supplying system administration and network management solutions. Servaplex provide reliable, proven and best of breed software products through partnerships with a number of world-renowned software developers. Servaplex is an Irish company based in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. www.servaplex.com