Media Publisher - Microsoft SQL Server Migration Services

The Customer is a leading provider of advanced, cross-media publishing and communication services in industries ranging from residential housing, book publishing to cancer care. With combined expertise in content generation, real-time data integration and business process management, the Customer was stretching its IT infrastructure to deliver valuable, industry-specific solutions.

Performance issues stemmed from using an outdated version of Microsoft® SQL Server® on older NetApp® hardware. A hardware refresh to newer, high-performance VBlock hardware was the ideal opportunity to upgrade their database software, as well. However, the customer lacked the internal resources needed to successfully complete such a sizable upgrade project and turned to mLogica to review, plan and execute these tasks.

Modernizing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 environment to SQL Server 2016 R2 required extensive architecture planning. The hardware refresh from NetApp to VBlock storage demanded further guidance to implement the right backup strategy for the SQL Server instances. mLogica divided the task into three stages: Discovery, Analysis and Implementation.

The following was identified in the Discovery Stage:

• The Customer was running SQL Server 2008 R2 in production in mirror configuration
• The SQL Server was running on an older version of VMware® with an unsupported NetApp storage platform
• The Customer had 65 production databases with a total of 2 Terabytes (TBs) of storage
• The transaction log performed full nightly backups within a 15-minutes time span
• The SQL Server was consolidating smaller instances onto the same platform
• The data replication was being implemented with the NetApp SQL tool SnapMirror®

Analysis of the Customer’s SQL Server environment uncovered the following details:

• The Customer’s current and future state environments
• Validated the job scope requirements
• Reviewed the data backup strategy
• Identified issues and bottlenecks that existed in the Customer’s database environment

The MLGOICA team created recommendations for the Customer’s existing SQL Server architecture and devised an implementation plan with the following:

• Performed an in-depth health check on the Customer’s current SQL Server environment
• Examined current production and business requirements
• Validated that an upgrade would help increase performance and functionality; recommended to the Customer, which authorized the recommendation
• Upgraded to SQL Server 2016 R2
• Assessed the latest features of SQL Server 2016
• Assisted with planning backups using VBlock

Modernizing the Customer’s database boosted performance and enhanced overall functionality in a safe and secure environment. By upgrading to SQL Server 2016 and performing a hardware refresh from NetApp to VBlock storage, the Customer was able to deliver timely, valuable, industry-specific solutions without taxing IT resources – a real game-changer for the IT team and corporate leadership.