The Customer

The customer is a technology services supplier to iGaming and online sports betting customers operating globally.

With a legacy “all-VMware” virtualised enterprise architecture, and a requirement for high availability, scalability and multi-purpose workloads, they needed to replace the current hardware and future­ proof whilst maintaining 24/7 availability.

Needing a service provider to design, plan and execute a migration to a new, cost­ effective virtualised hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), Continent 8 Technologies, a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider, provided managed and professional migration services to deliver the project.

The Challenge

There were multiple requirements to be met, from technical to commercial, with a requirement for minimal operational impact. The project’s migration requirements included:

• Hardware replacement – Existing hardware was soon to be end-of-life (EOL) and needed to be replaced with new HCI cluster nodes.
• Hypervisor change – Due to cost, an alternative solution was sought which could minimise licensing fees while supporting current and future workloads and providing additional native benefits.
• Speed/ timescale and 24/7 availability – The project had to be completed within fixed timescales at pace, whilst not disrupting operations.
• Multiple geographic locations – The enterprise was located in North America and West Europe with three data centre environments – interconnected across a WAN/LAN – reducing to two locations.
• Mixed workloads – Virtual servers ran a mixture of vendor applications, databases and in-house intellectual property – of different sizes and priority – with one server being 8 TB alone.

Current traditional three-tier architecture using VMware as their hypervisor

The Solution

Continent 8 proposed and delivered a solution using Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor (AHV) in two clusters in two geographically diverse locations. The solution involved multiple components:

• Current hardware utilisation was assessed, and new hardware specification designed by Continent 8 provided requested capacity availability and easy additional future node capabilities.
• Continent 8 provided an ROI cost comparison of numerous alternate vendor choices and recommended Nutanix AHV.
• Continent 8 demonstrated migration ease in a test proof-of-concept (POC) environment.
• Existing workloads were assessed and prioritised into a plan with milestones for key operational activities.
• Continent 8 executed migrations in advance of switchover so the Nutanix Move service – a cross-hypervisor mobility solution to move virtual machines (VMs) with minimal downtime – could copy data to new cluster ahead of availability.

On average four to eight virtual servers were migrated per day around an agreed, lowest impact schedule between Monday to Thursday.

New hyperconverged Nutanix stack complemented with Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV)

The Benefits

Availability:

• Continent 8 created a migration plan and schedule which minimised impact to the customer and maximised productivity.
• By delving into the customer’s key operational requirements and understanding workload utilisation, this plan minimised the chance of failure or impact.
• During migrations there was no user experience impact, although Continent 8 provided heightened support availability in case of issue or roll-back.

Cost:

• By recommending Nutanix AHV and a two-cluster environment, Continent 8 was able to demonstrate:
• Direct comparative cost savings in licensing costs
• Futureproofing against volatility in post-Broadcom acquisition of VMware
• Reducing hardware infrastructure footprint, whilst providing easy additional node capabilities for scale
• Reducing geographical footprint to minimise operational support costs
• Continent 8 was able to offer up-front CAPEX or OPEX options to suit the customer’s needs and demonstrate managed service costs to maintain and operate.

Speed:

• Continent 8 performing the work allowed the customer’s operational-focused teams to continue with uninterrupted work and the project to be undertaken at speed.
• From engagement to execution, the project was completed on time and within budget.
• Continent 8 utilised project management resources to ensure all tasks were completed in order and key milestones achieved.

All migrations were completed prior to hardware EOL and Broadcom VMware licensing update following acquisition completion.

“Infrastructure migration and management can be a costly and long process, with pitfalls for even the most skilled technical teams. Continent 8 has demonstrated that customers can achieve the benefits of lower cost, quicker deployment, and therefore swifter ROI, by engaging us to scope and execute this project with experienced and certified professionals. When Continent 8 is engaged, we don’t just try to achieve a migration – but a future-proof and scalable platform for growth.”

Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer, Continent 8 Technologies

Download the case study here.