Case Study
Client: Chicopee Savings Bank
Highlighted Technologies: Double-Take Software & Microsoft Virtual Server
In 2007, Chicopee Savings Bank engaged IBS to help streamline their business continuity and disaster recovery plans. Their accounting and lending applications, as well as their Exchange data, was deemed mission critical and maximizing up time and access to these applications was critical to the bank's operational efficiencies.
The project scope included moving their SQL lending and accounting application to independent departmental servers as to that point, they had been operating on one, heavily taxed server. In addition, IBS proposed the Exchange server be migrated to new hardware, and a high performance and capacity server be installed at their off-site Disaster Recovery facility as their Disaster Recovery Server [DR Server].
IBS utilized Windows Virtual Server for the DR Server, a product that is designed to allow IT professionals to create multiple virtual servers on a single Windows Server machine. Each of these virtual servers functions as an independent Virtual Machine (VM) running its own operating system and individual set of applications. IBS created three VMs on the DR Server - for Exchange, SQL Accounting, and SQL Lending. Next, IBS used Double-Take Software for Windows Server to replicate the data for all three critical applications to the stand-by or replicated server/virtual server. Double-Take Software products and services enable businesses to protect and recover business-critical data and applications to support disaster recovery, high availability and centralized backup. Upon implementation, should a disaster occur in the production environment, users may be redirected to the secondary off-site server.
"In a matter of weeks, IBS worked with us to implement a solution that drastically enhanced our disaster recovery point and recovery time objectives -- the transition from tape backups to data replication makes the backup tapes our "Plan B" -- the "backup to our backup". The data replicated off-site is our natural first choice to recover lost data.
IBS epitomizes the spirit of partnership by helping us maximize the strategic value of our investment -- we not only improved our DR capabilities, we also enhanced day-to-day system availability, have the basis for future virtual growth plans, and lessened our dependence on older technologies. IBS' expertise in the emerging virtual technologies gave us the confidence to invest strategically and avoid using resources on a short-sighted solution."
Darlene Libiszewski
Vice President of Information Technology
Chicopee Savings Bank