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January 27, 2020	SIOS DataKeeper Chosen For Ability To Enable Shared Storage Clustering In Azure RSM Australia Gets Protection in a Hybrid Cloud SIOS DataKeeper chosen for its ability to enable shared storage clustering in Azure “With any clustering technology, you need to be wary of what you’re doing to avoid having failover fail. But with SIOS DataKeeper, the system pretty much just manages and maintains itself…It just works!” – Craig Hannagan, RSM Project Manager RSM Australia (www.rsm.global/australia) is a professional services firm with advisers in 30 offices across Australia. RSM Australia is part of RSM Global, the world’s sixth-largest audit, tax and consulting network. RSM Global nexus of member firms draws on more than 43,000 people in 800 offices across 120 countries to help guide clients through business challenges, both locally and seamlessly across borders. The Environment For years RSM Global had a collection of independent content management systems running across their 30 national offices. Craig Hannagan, RSM’s Project Manager was tasked with creating a single, centralized CMS that was highly available for over 1,200 users. After deciding on using iManage’s CMS product, they had to determine the best way to maximize availability. The Challenge: Achieving Uptime On Azure Having a highly available system was critical. “We could have hosted this centralized solution on-premises but as an existing Microsoft customer and given the inherent high availability of Azure, the public cloud was quite an attractive option for us,” Craig recalls. “We already had a Telstra MPLS network connecting all of our offices. So providing access into Azure was quite easy.” After some initial research, however, the team discovered that Microsoft Azure could not achieve the uptime required without additional support. Specifically, the clustering on the Azure cloud did not support the disk sharing required to deploy SQL Server Standard Edition. “We could have used the Enterprise Edition to achieve always-on availability, but we didn’t want to just replicate databases. We wanted to actually replicate the entire instance of SQL Server to assure having an instant, seamless failover,” Craig explains. The Evaluation While searching the Internet for possible solutions, Craig and his team learned about Providence Solutions Australia (www.providencesolutions.com.au), uptime specialists with Asia Pacific reach. The team at Providence Solutions Australia recommended using SIOS DataKeeper. In addition to meeting all of the technical requirements, Craig was also impressed that SIOS DataKeeper was certified by Microsoft. “These two factors gave us confidence that we were not going to encounter conflicts between the two vendors. The Solution For Azure High Availability & Disaster Recovery RSM Australia is using SIOS DataKeeper to address the inability of Azure to use cluster-aware shared storage, such as a storage area network. To maximize high availability, the company deployed a third node on-premises in Sydney that serves as both a disaster recovery solution in the event of a total Azure failure and an “exit strategy” should they ever decide to leave Azure in the future. On-premises replication also facilitates unlocking the disc volumes to make periodic backups onto tape for permanent records retention. According to Craig: “One thing we’ve found with Azure is while they offer various backup technologies within the cloud, if you want to leave for whatever reason, getting a copy of that backup can be fairly difficult. The fact that we’re able to get backups on our own tape media is a real bonus.” The Results “When it comes to the potential for a longer-term outage, such as a damaging storm, a terrorist attack, a fire, an earthquake, or even vandalism, Azure’s High Availability solution is not going to be able to cover us. Having that on-premises Disaster Recovery solution using SIOS DataKeeper enables us to initiate a disaster recovery at the push of a button,” says Craig. “And we can test our Disaster Recovery configuration whenever we want to make sure it will work if and when we ever need it.” Craig and his team are completely satisfied with the reliability of SIOS DataKeeper: “With any clustering technology, you need to be wary of what you’re doing to avoid having failover fail. But with SIOS DataKeeper, the system pretty much just manages and maintains itself. During actual instances when Azure went down briefly causing the disks to get out of sync, the SIOS solution was able to self-heal. We do check on it every so often, of course, just to be 100 percent sure but, we don’t need to do anything on a day to day basis. It just works!” Craig also appreciates the support he has received from Providence Solutions Australia noting, “We’ve only had to create a few trouble tickets, and they were all more about questions than actual problems. But the Providence team was there for us every time.” Get a Free Trial of SIOS DataKeeper Learn more about SQL Server high availability on Azure Download Case Study PDF
January 26, 2020	Perth’s Optus Stadium gets SIOS DataKeeper with Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering for Hyper-V high availability Meet Australia’s smartest and highest tech stadium – Perth’s Optus Stadium SIOS DataKeeper™ implemented with Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering for Hyper-V high availability SIOS DataKeeper was determined to be the only way to ensure a simple, manageable and yet cost-effective and robust solution that supported multiple integrations of devices and data securely, while also guaranteeing a high availability outcome. The Perth Stadium, also known as Optus Stadium, is a high tech, multi-purpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia. Completed in late 2017 and officially opened in January 2018, the stadium has a capacity of over 60,000 people, making it the third-largest stadium in Australia after the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Stadium Australia. It has also been named Australia’s smartest and highest tech stadium. According to Sascha Rhalf, Commercial Project Manager, Siemens, the Stadium is a landmark project in Western Australia that shapes the city’s skyline. It’s a high profile infrastructure development project that has been in the publics’ eye from the start due to the significant amount of government funding that the project has received. The project itself has been a marvel, particularly for the Construction, Building Management and IT industries, given the complexity of both the building construction and IT architecture of the Stadium. Providence Solutions Australia along with Siemens and BGIS, joined forces to form a power-house team to work through the complex nature of the project and deliver one of Australia’s best Stadiums built to-date. Now nearing the end of its first year of operations, we discuss in more detail the background behind the project and the journey thus far. The Challenge: Maintaining Availability The highly customized-design of the Stadium made this a challenging project from the beginning. It was also a greenfield project, meaning there were no blueprints or previous examples/use cases to follow or reference. In fact, the blueprint for future similar projects was created during the project itself. The project demanded a fit-for-purpose and tailored IT management solution that would meet all of the Stadium’s customized needs now, and into the future. The complexities of the IT design requirements ranged from high megapixel cameras, mission-critical application servers, a large number of multi-vendor integrations and dependencies, event day service delivery, and diverse vendors and ICT (Information Communications Technology) requirements. At the same time, it was important to keep to budget and timelines, as well as ensure the highest level of quality and security. Complexity also stemmed from the fact that the very latest technologies were implemented to support the project’s future requirements. From face recognition to highly sophisticated access systems, to thousands of sensors – high tech and future-proofing technology was selected to ensure that the Stadium was equipped for the future. This meant, however, that the amount of data to be captured and stored on-site would be significant requiring a powerful solution to house and store the data securely. The performance requirements for the technology implemented at the Stadium also gave complexity to the project. For example, the performance requirements for security video cameras alone was extraordinary. There are around 700 cameras including a significant number of ultra-high-definition cameras. The CCTV management solution is provisioned with 1Pb of scalable tiered storage for review, analytics, facial recognition and database matching. There were also varied levels of availability requirements ranging from 99.999% (5 9’s) to 99.9% which is considered unique. It was critical to ensure that there was uninterrupted processing of data and application availability, eliminate any loss of data and transactions if a server fails, and continuous computing during repair. The Solution for High Availability for Hyper-V Virtual Machines Providence Solutions Australia was selected as an instrumental technology partner involved in the end-to-end solution design and build. From design to engineering, to building and implementing, they were the “brains” behind the Optus Stadium’s unified compute IT platform. The Optus Stadium is the first-ever stadium in Australia to embrace a unified, continuous computing infrastructure platform which was highly essential given the complex nature of the project from both a building and IT perspective. The unified continuous computing infrastructure platform is a single platform that can house multiple applications and data and features built-in resilience through fault tolerance, high availability, high performance and seamless disaster recovery capabilities. Put simply, it is a super platform – one that can cope with anything. It was decided that a hyper-converged unified compute platform was key to the overall technology and IT build given the range of diverse systems and applications managed. Providence Solutions Australia implemented SIOS DataKeeper™ with Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering to provide high availability for their Hyper-V virtual machines. It was determined that this was the only way to ensure that there was a simple, manageable and yet cost-effective and robust solution that supported multiple integrations of devices and data securely, while also guaranteeing a high availability outcome. The super platform and total building solution work by providing an end-to-end solution for the stadium operations. In a single platform, it contains a convergence of multiple systems, spanning video surveillance management, recording and archival, voice, data, storage, industrial monitoring (SCADA systems), HVAC, building and power management, security systems, video intercoms, irrigation, billboards, lifts, and lighting control. There is a range of 3^rd party vendor applications that sit on the integrated platform including Johnson Control, Philips Dynalite, and Schindler. The Results The Stadium has delivered. There has been positive feedback from the public and visitors since the opening. It is a state of the art stadium as well as a workplace with transparent and intelligent security on a future proof backbone with superior analytics. It has been built with IT security top of mind and has been built meeting all the technical specifications and performance requirements set out by Multiplex. The IT architecture and design has also taken future developments into consideration. Get a Free Trial of SIOS DataKeeper Learn more about High Availability Clusters For Virtual Server Environments Download Case Study PDF
August 23, 2019	SQL Saturday: High Availability and Disaster Recovery for SQL Server in Azure IaaS High Availability and Disaster Recovery for SQL Server in Azure IaaS Speaker: Jason Aw Duration: 60 minutes Level: Beginner Track: Application, DBA and Database Development The CEO just tasked you with moving all the SQL Server instances to Azure, or maybe you are deploying a brand new application and want to leverage Azure IaaS to host SQL Server. Beyond security and performance, your most pressing concern might be ensuring SQL Server running in Azure is highly available. While on-prem high availability and disaster recovery options for SQL Server are well defined, moving those instances to Azure immediately presents some questions and challenges. Can I simply lift and shift my SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance to the cloud? Do I need to upgrade to SQL Server Enterprise Edition and us Always On Availability Groups? What about shared storage and failover clustering? What about disaster recovery, what are my options there? Load Balancers, Fault Domains, Availability Zones, Azure Site Recovery and Region Pairs, what are these things and why do they matter to me? High Availability and Disaster Recovery professional Jason Aw with 20 years of experience explains all this and more in detail. Accompanying Material [Powerpoint] – PASS_Perth_SQLSaturday_2019_SIOS_Datakeeper_HA_DR.pdf
	SQL Saturday: High Availability and Disaster Recovery for SQL Server in Azure IaaS SQL Saturday: High Availability and Disaster Recovery for SQL Server in Azure IaaS Speaker: Jason Aw Duration: 60 minutes Level: Beginner Track: Enterprise Database Administration & Deployment The CEO just tasked you with moving all the SQL Server instances to Azure, or maybe you are deploying a brand new application and want to leverage Azure IaaS to host SQL Server. Beyond security and performance, your most pressing concern might be ensuring SQL Server running in Azure is highly available. While on-prem high availability and disaster recovery options for SQL Server are well defined, moving those instances to Azure immediately presents some questions and challenges. Can I simply lift and shift my SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance to the cloud? Do I need to upgrade to SQL Server Enterprise Edition and us Always On Availability Groups? What about shared storage and failover clustering? What about disaster recovery, what are my options there? Load Balancers, Fault Domains, Availability Zones, Azure Site Recovery and Region Pairs, what are these things and why do they matter to me? High Availability and Disaster Recovery professional Jason Aw with 20 years of experience explains all this and more in detail. For more details, please click here
July 21, 2019	SIOS Technology Earns AWS Microsoft Workloads Competency Status to Help Management of Microsoft-based Applications on AWS SIOS Technology Earns AWS Microsoft Workloads Competency Status to Help Management of Microsoft-based Applications on AWS Competency reaffirms SIOS’ deep domain expertise enabling customers to achieve Microsoft Workloads migration and management goals on AWS; Visit SIOS at AWS Global Summit in NYC AWS Summit: SIOS Technology Corp. a company that provides IT Resilience through intelligent application availability, announced at AWS Global Summit in New York it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Microsoft Workloads Competency status within the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designation recognizes that SIOS provides proven technology and deep expertise in helping customers in the migration, deployment and management of Microsoft-based applications on AWS, specifically with workloads based on Microsoft SQL Server. Achieving the AWS Microsoft Workloads Competency differentiates SIOS as an AWS Partner Network member that provides specialized demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success with specific focus on tools to migrate workloads with minimum operational impact. To receive the designation, APN Partners must possess deep AWS expertise and deliver solutions seamlessly on AWS. “SIOS is proud to achieve AWS Microsoft Workloads Competency status for high availability solutions,” said Jerry Melnick, President and CEO, SIOS Technology. “This underscores our proven expertise deploying mission-critical Microsoft applications and workloads on AWS, by leveraging the agility, breadth of services, and pace of innovation that AWS provides.” AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology APN Partners with deep industry experience and expertise. The SIOS Exhibit at AWS Global Summit in NYC To simplify and accelerate the deployment of high availability clusters in the cloud, SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition software is available on AWS Marketplace and can be deployed automatically using an AWS QuickStart. The AWS Quick Start deployment is ideal for organizations making their first venture into high availability clusters in the cloud. Today at AWS Global Summit in NYC, SIOS is showcasing how SIOS Datakeeper delivers the same high availability (HA) capabilities that are available through a Windows Server Failover Cluster in the cloud and configurable on AWS quickly and easily – saving months of effort, improving operational flexibility and drastically lowering costs to set up and maintain. SIOS Technology Corp. makes software products that provide the insights and guidance that IT managers need to manage and protect business-critical applications in large, complex data centers. SIOS SAN and SANLess software is an essential part of any cluster solution that provides the flexibility to build Clusters Your Way™ to protect your choice of Windows or Linux environment in any configuration (or combination) of physical, virtual and cloud (public, private, and hybrid) without sacrificing performance or availability. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shruti Umathe Follow Shruti drives the News and Guest author program for Toolbox IT as she works closely with the rest of the Editorial and Research team. Being an engineer by qualification, she tends to explore the topics in the dynamic space of technology & digital transformation. She is a dog-lover and on weekends, you will usually find her whipping up a pencil sketch. For any contributions please reach out to her at shruti_umathe@ziffdavis.com Article reproduced from it.toolbox.com

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