University of Louisville Transitioned From Tape-Based Backup into a DRaaS Model Within 24 Hours
Learn how Recovery Point helped the University of Louisville transition from a tape-based backup system into a DRaaS model, all within 24 hours.
Overview
The University of Louisville is a state-supported research university with a student population in excess of 22,000 and is located in Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area. U of L focuses on teaching, research, and service to its community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the advancement of educational opportunity for all. Their academic programs attract students from every state and from all over the world.
Challenge
University of Louisville requested proposals to establish a multi-year technology partnership to completely redesign and re-implement the University’s backup, recovery, and disaster recovery (DR) systems. They needed to transform their existing tape-based backup, recovery and DR workflows into an as-a-service model. The university’s IT staff expended a great deal of energy manually testing their DR environment. At that time, their DR provider was located in the Northeast at a facility that was only available as a colocation site. Certain on-demand resources were available, and could be requested for annual testing. In-house responsibility for disaster recovery was becoming an inefficient process that was costing them too much time and money. The university desired a true DR partnership, not just rack space at another facility. An as-a-service model would provide freedom to focus on production, while still feeling safe and prepared.
Solution
- Relocate their systems from their previous disaster recovery provider to Recovery Point in Maryland. A recognized leader in traditional and cloud-based business resilience services, Recovery Point Systems serves complex enterprise organizations across a broad range of vertical markets, delivering a comprehensive suite of IT resiliency, disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.
- Facilitate the installation of their systems at Recovery Point and restructure their virtualized backup environment. U of L had backup recovery consisting of an AIX based IBM Spectrum Protect (formerly Tivoli Storage Manager) system which stored data in both an IBM ProtecTIER virtual tape library and disk- based storage pools.
- Transform a critical infrastructure component from a capital purchase to an operational
Results
- Efficiently relocated all of U of L’s systems, which were back up and running within 24 hours, and facilitated the installation of the new environment at Recovery Point by making sure there was a dedicated circuit for U of L’s data between the two sites. Without the physical transition to handle, the university’s IT staff could remain focused on their most important, productive tasks.
- Installed Veeam Cloud Connect for their VMware environment. Veeam Cloud Connect uses Veeam Enterprise Plus Availability Suite to allow clients to back-up their data to the cloud and quickly resume business operations following any disruption to their IT environment.
- The university’s backup and recovery workflows successfully transitioned into a DR as-a-service model overseen by Recovery Point. U of L no longer has to worry about whether their equipment is up to date, fully refreshed and ready to go. They can focus on their most vital projects and maintain peace of mind that their DR strategy is in place and in good hands.
