Mid Coast Gaming

Network Case Study

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The Company

Mid Coast Gaming is a leading service company, offering field service repair and maintenance services to a growing base on the Mid North Coast 7 days a week. They specialise in interactive entertainment and electronic equipment ranging from service calls to major installations and project work

The Brief

The IT infrastructure at Mid Coast Gaming was spread over two physical servers, one running SBS2008 and the other running Server 2008 R2.  The SBS2008 system hosted on premise Exchange and company data whilst the Server 2008 R2 system hosted their SQL based Business and Service Management systems.  Both physical servers had expired hardware warranty.

The requirement was to replace both physical servers with one system that had the capacity to run all their required software and to ensure that system downtime during the migration process was kept to an absolute minimum to ensure that that Mid Coast Gaming didn’t breach their contracted SLA’s.

Our Approach

After extensive consultation with Mid Coast Gaming owner and director Aaron Barr we proposed the following solution….

  • Move the Exchange Email system from On-Premise to Office 365
  • Replace the existing physical servers with one Rack Mounted Server running ‘Solid State Disks’ for maximum performance.
  • The physical server would host 2 Virtual Machines. One VM would be hosting Company data and serving as the domain controller, whilst the other VM would be running their “Line of Business” ABM Accounting and Service Management System.
  • The existing backups to removable hard disks would be replaced with backups to a “Network Attached Storage” system utilizing the industry leading “Acronis” backup software to schedule and monitor the backups. The option to replicate to offsite backups was recommended as network bandwidth became available.

The Implementation

Mindful of the requirement for minimum downtime across all systems we implemented our proposal in 2 phases:

Phase 1 – Migration to Office 365

  • We created a tenancy the company domain in Office 365 and initiated a “Cutover Migration” of their on-premise mailboxes before making it the default mail server
  • All workstation email clients and mobile devices were configured to access the new service with all previous emails and other exchange information immediately available.

Phase 2 – Replacement of Existing Servers

  • The new server was run up in our workshop to install the host operating system and create the guest virtual machines.
  • We were able run the servers in a separate network allowing us to fully simulate the network at Mid Coast Gaming.
  • We took snapshots of the Company data and ABM SQL files from the existing servers and loaded them onto their respective VMs.
  • We fully tested the functionality of the Business Applications including access from “Hand Held” devices which was vital for the Technicians on the road.
  • Once our testing was complete we organized a mutually convenient time with Mid Coast Gaming management to install the new server.
  • The implementation of the new system on site was completed in under 3 hours

The Benefits

Mid Coast Gaming have a resilient Server and assured back up service on supportable software with fast responsive hardware which is within warranty. The investment cycle means that the platforms in place will not have to be reviewed for 5yrs.

Remote engineers have full access to hosted email and job scheduling.

The Outcome

Aaron Barr, Managing Director

Mid Coast Gaming has been utilizing John’s expertise to maintain our Computer Network for over 7 years. John joining Integer IT and Mid Coast Gaming transitioning to their support, was a simple decision to make. John and his team have just recently installed a new server along with upgrading all the software that comes along with it. The transition has been planned well and executed perfectly. We have had minimal to no disruptions and our system integrity has been fortified, back-ups tested and confirmed as 100% and, the ongoing maintenance of the system (which is ignored a lot) set in place.

I highly recommend utilizing Integer’s team for any upgrades or ongoing maintenance you may require.

John Raisborough, Senior Server Engineer at Integer IT :

By splitting the implementation into two phases we were able to provide Mid Coast Gaming with their desired result of a new robust system with minimum downtime incurred and they have migrated to a Proactive Managed service.

  • Mid Coast Gaming has been utilizing John’s expertise to maintain our Computer Network for over 7 years. John joining Integer IT and Mid Coast Gaming transitioning to their support, was a simple decision to make. John and his team have just recently installed a new server along with upgrading all the software that comes along with it. The transition has been planned well and executed perfectly. We have had minimal to no disruptions and our system integrity has been fortified, back-ups tested and confirmed as 100% and, the ongoing maintenance of the system (which is ignored a lot) set in place.I highly recommend utilizing Integer’s team for any upgrades or ongoing maintenance you may require.

    Aaron Barr Managing Director - Mid Coast Gaming
  • By splitting the implementation into two phases we were able to provide Mid Coast Gaming with their desired result of a new robust system with minimum downtime incurred and they have migrated to a Proactive Managed service.

    John Raisborough Integer IT

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