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Client Case Studies:
$5 Million US Government Rack Installation
9/11 Disaster Recovery
Configuration and Deployment of Servers on 45 Oil Tankers while Underway
System Recovery After Raid Controller Failed With No Backups
Implementation of Depletion Schedule in Oil and Timber Business 's Low Cost Accounting Package
$5 Million US Government Rack Installation
Situation: One of the US forces required fast servers with adequate fault tolerance to provide maximum uptime for their accounts payable system. They estimated that system downtime was costing them $100,000 per hour in lost payment vendor discounts and were keen to resolve the issue.
Solution: We researched the required equipment, designed the configuration, installed the system on time, trained their staff and delivered the performance that exceeded their expectations. Following the installation, the client used our rack installation as a new standard/example to other vendors of acceptable rack installations.
During a power outage that occurred shortly after our installation – our servers were the only servers that did not experience downtime. Other equipment was down for as long as one week following the power outage due to data loss and hardware failures. Our installation was again used as an example of how to properly protect the client’s data.
Another Challenge: While performing the onsite installation the client had a complete network slowdown, which could not be resolved by their fortune 100 support firms who had been working on the issue for months. Our technicians were asked to review the issue and to assist in regaining the network speed since the accounts payable staff could not accomplish their work. After review of the issue, we found the entire switch configuration to be flawed in design and configuration. Even though the Fortune 100 firms did not agree with our findings, the client asked us to try our recommended solution, which involved reconfiguring the network. We completed the reconfiguration in one evening and produced a 1,000% increase in network performance - the client’s employees could not believe their eyes!
9/11 Disaster Recovery
Situation: Two clients were unexpectedly dislocated from their World Trade neighborhood offices following the 9/11 disaster. During the disaster the city was trying to recover from the terrorist attack, emergency services had taken over the city, marshal law was in control of security downtown, temporary office space was extremely limited and our clients were devastated while trying to develop a recovery plan.
Solution: We provided our clients a safe haven to regroup at our office for free. We then assisted them in developing staged recovery plans, worked to clean and recover the systems where possible, followed up our work with reports the client could use for their insurance claims and provided much needed resources which assisted them in staying in business.
One of the clients needed to have their complex worldwide accessible network split into three locations. We connected a few of the web servers to our office immediately and they regained their web presence. We then configured a rack environment for their heavy-duty systems with a new firewall in a fortified location. Following this, we assisted the client in salvaging the equipment in their main office and in creating a useable network from the systems that were still working so they could perform their day-to-day operations.
Lessons Learned: Disasters happen when we least expect them and those who prepare for these events fair much better as their recovery plans are executed rather than developed when working through the actual disaster. During a crisis people are stressed, resources are limited, onsite equipment and backups are damaged and people can start to loose hope. We recommend that all companies at least discuss what a disaster would mean to their staff and business, and the steps needed for them to survive it.
Configuration and Deployment of Servers in 45 Oil Tankers While Underway
Situation: An oil transportation firm with 45 oil tankers in their fleet needed to get Microsoft networks installed on each ship without a network engineer going to the ships which were already underway throughout the world.
Solution: We designed and implemented a Windows 2000 based solution, which required the domain controllers on the ships to be created and maintained with scripts. We configured all and tested all servers offsite. We then trained and provided guidance to the firm’s staff on how to complete the network cabling and physical equipment installations.
We also implemented a backup\recovery system with various phases of disaster recovery from onsite recovery to full remote office depot recovery. All installations were implemented without issues and to date no network engineer has had to visit any of the ships. Our client is very happy with our scalable solution. They are now getting satellite Internet access on all the ships, which will allow us to actively manage the fleet.
System Recovery After Raid Controller Failed With No Backups
Situation: On a late Friday afternoon a Law firm called with their primary Novell file server down due to a faulty raid controller. All attempts to recover the hard drive subsystem did not produce access to a working Novell volume. A loaner Raid controller with drives was dispatched installed and configured. Upon trying to merge the backup tapes it became clear that the client's employee responsible for checking the backup system was not performing this task– the client had no good backups – all tapes were blank with the exception of a 9 month old tape, which was not considered of much value to the pending court cases – the client needed a solution with data by Monday 2 P.M.
Solution: A hard drive disaster recovery firm was contacted, arrangements were made to fly the drive directly to their repair location and upon recovery of the data fly it back over the weekend. While waiting for word of the possible data recovery, our technical team stayed onsite for 55 hours straight to build a new Novell server with all software and required settings installed\tested. On Sunday, we completed final adjustments of the new Novell server when we got word that the data recovery process was successful and that the client’s data had been recovered. Within hours of notification we picked up the data at the local airport, brought it back to the client’s office, restored and tested the data to the client’s satisfaction.
Lessons learned: The hard drive recovery firm charged $17,000 to recover the data while the client had already invested in a good backup system. The failure of the tape backup system was due to the client's employee being negligent changing the tapes and reviewing the backup logs. The client believed they were saving money by having a non-technical person in charge of the backups. Our recommendation was to either provide better training for the person responsible for the backups or pay a network support firm to perform this important role. Additional recommendations included testing their backup tapes by restoring data on a regular basis and having a tape library to relieve the local person from having to change the tapes as often.
Implementation of Depletion Schedule in Oil and Timber Business’s Low Cost Accounting Package
Situation: A family run business with primary activity in Oil and Timber needed technical consulting services but wanted privacy and as such, as few people onsite as possible while adhering to a tight budget to create a method of tracking depletion schedules in their Peachtree accounting package.
Solution: We started by speaking with the accounting software vendor, who explained that their software was not designed to handle depletion schedules and they could not see how it would ever work. We then researched several packages designed for the timber industry which included depletion schedules but the client believed they were too difficult to learn and expensive. We proceeded to use many features in their existing package and found a way even the software manufacturer could not believe worked. Our client maintained their simple accounting package while adding the much needed depletion schedule. Historically they had to wait until the first quarter for the accountant to produce the depletion schedule for the previous year, whereas now the schedule was produced real-time and was up to date all the time.
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