Getting Real in a Virtual World

Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez, P.A. (Rennert Vogel) is a mid-size business law firm located in Miami. Our office is home to approximately 30 attorneys, with an additional 50 employees providing support and conducting administrative tasks. The firm provides a full range of legal services to real estate, commercial and financial enterprises, as well as to individuals and entrepreneurs, and our success has paralleled the economic development of Miami and South Florida over the past few decades.

When it comes to IT, the mandate from our Managing Partner, Chuck Rennert, has always been: “Get something good that works.” I'm an aggressive cost-containment oriented person. However, as those in IT would surely agree, it's good to have a decision-maker that is practical and forward thinking when it comes to technology investments. To “nickel and dime” in the short-term is a recipe for disaster when attempting to create an infrastructure that will answer immediate and future IT demands. With this in mind, when we began looking at virtualization ' heralded as a tech area that can shape the fortunes of an organization ' I realized the initiative would need to be approached cautiously to achieve our goals and ensure strong ROI.

My first exposure to virtualization was years ago when I began using Virtual Iron software for server virtualization. This gave me a glimpse at the vast potential benefits offered by a virtualized infrastructure. Soon after, I attended a VMware class that brought me into contact with DataCore Software, a provider of storage virtualization software. I was convinced from that experience that storage virtualization was the best way to go for the same reasons as server virtualization: flexibility, hardware independence and centralized management. It turns out many companies had charged into virtualization without giving much thought to storage, and as a result, many of these initiatives came to a sudden, costly halt.

In terms of storage virtualization, I wanted to take the time to figure out which solution was the best for our firm. I did my homework, and frankly, nearly burned myself out, though a new technology approach always warrants caution. I learned that DataCore was an innovator in storage virtualization software (it would later introduce the industry's first storage hypervisor, SANsymphony-V). Also, its technology was affordable, and the fact that the company was located literally just down the road from our office didn't hurt.

It was early 2008 when we began our first foray into storage virtualization with DataCore, purchasing SANmelody storage virtualization software, the precursor to the SANsymphony-V storage hypervisor, and installing it onsite at our firm's office on the 29th floor of the Miami Tower. The building is 46 stories tall and we were encountering power issues, as well as ' if you can believe it ' flooding. Water would run down from the floors above us, wreaking havoc and reminding us vividly just how important data protection is for our day-to-day business operations.

The first phase of our storage virtualization initiative was straightforward, the objective being to realize better capacity management and increased data protection. We achieved that with DataCore because SANmelody gave us all the benefits of a storage area network (SAN), enabling us to withstand a server failure and not have our data “flushed” out the door. We did achieve some data protection; still, a single point of failure risked the office going offline.

Naturally, our practically minded managing partner did not warm to the idea of our firm potentially losing access to its data. To resolve this, we acquired another storage hypervisor license from DataCore and set up a standalone node in what is known as a cage at Host.net; a co-location, managed services and cloud services provider based in Boca Raton, FL. This allowed us to replicate data over to that facility using Double-Take for backups and remote (asynchronous) replication. Through this configuration we never had any reason to failover.

The Case for a New Venue

I decided to move our entire virtualized infrastructure to the Host.net venue. Most of our production environment servers were moved because once I understood Layer 2 transport, I realized if we put everything in the co-location facility (utilizing the Layer 2 communication model) we would have the added benefit of using the same subnet as the one at our office. Virtual Iron had been acquired by Oracle, so at that point we were using Oracle VM for our server virtualization and DataCore for storage virtualization in the cage at Host.net.

When we moved off Oracle VM to VMware, we took the opportunity to get new SANsymphony-V licenses along with VMware ESX hosts, configuring the virtualized infrastructure as a high availability (HA) environment. Today, we have two SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors running as mirrored copies in the same cage. By virtue of DataCore's storage hypervisors being software-based, we have realized HA that is practical, and the synchronously mirrored systems have certainly achieved our paramount objective of having data redundancy.

The virtualized infrastructure was adopted to help with server consolidation. We had a server for everything, running the gamut from cheap ones to Supermicros, and there was always the worry that if one went down we were going to be in big trouble. Server virtualization gave us relief from server sprawl. However, storage virtualization provided tremendous peace-of-mind by delivering true disaster preparedness, far-better than what we had for data protection and offering benefits that extended well beyond what we achieved through server virtualization alone.

The partners at Rennert Vogel deserve credit for giving me a mandate to find the best solution to fit our needs. HA was what we needed and that is what we got. Sure, we realized other benefits ' including performance and capacity management, and true hardware independence ' but our foremost concern was maximum uptime ' and that's what we achieved through DataCore's storage hypervisor.

As far as the implementation process, we investigated, bought and deployed the equipment with the support of our trusted solutions provider, Miami-based Grove Networks, virtualization systems experts and strong advocates for DataCore Software's storage hypervisor technology.

Within Our Jurisdiction

Today, in the cage at Host.net, two SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors run in front of two Promise storage arrays, with 4 DELL PowerEdge R610 servers running on the iSCSI SAN fabric. Within that setup we run VMware vCenter. Three VMware ESX host servers are on the Dell servers. These connect to the SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors fronting the Promise arrays, which utilize a mix of Serial Attached SCSI and slower Serial Advanced Technology Attachment drives. All the virtual disk capacity for our IT needs is carved out and served up from the virtualized infrastructure, which runs as a HA configuration. The system currently supports 19 virtual machines. Rennert Vogel is connected to these systems via a 100 MB DIA line.

In terms of workloads, the firm has virtualized all the systems one would associate with a dynamic, knowledge-based enterprise. This includes accounting, case management, file servers, Citrix server for remote access, a fax server and two Linux servers ' everything except the Microsoft Exchange server, which is next. The Exchange server is just about to go from physical to virtual, and that too will be protected on the virtualized infrastructure by the HA configuration powered by SANsymphony-V.

The virtualized databases and applications are literally the lifeblood of our firm. A Linux server runs an application I developed that serves as an employee time clock. Another database system running on Linux tracks everything we send to offsite storage. Our accounting system (Juris) is virtualized and runs on Microsoft SQL server. Our case management software (TrialWorks) is virtualized through the SQL server. We have a RightFax server running on the virtualized environment. Our cost-recovery system, EquiTrac, is also virtualized. Additionally, Sherpa Archive Attender runs on the virtualized environment. This archiving software extracts attachments from MS Exchange and puts them all in a database, accessible via a link in the body of email messages, freeing the server from managing that additional capacity.

The file servers on the virtualized infrastructure support our Corporate, Tax, Real Estate and Litigation Departments. The bulk of the workload that choked capacity pre-virtualization was massive PDF files that literally consisted of thousands of pages, and end-users hadn't the foggiest idea how much data storage resources were required to cope with those files. A great volume of documents are required to support a law firm and must be readily accessible. Multi-media, depositions that represent hours and hours of transcribed audio files, e-mails and all attachments ' and the decision here is to retain everything. Currently the virtualized infrastructure supports 6 terabytes (TBs) of data. Because our storage needs continue to grow, I expect that it will not be too long before we need to add another storage array.

The amount of risk reduction that virtualized infrastructure has afforded is really immeasurable. We have two copies of our data, highly available, and that was the objective. We also have realized improved productivity. Gone are the availability hiccups we encountered in the past when relying on lone servers that sometimes just decided not to work. The attitudes of users have changed, too, thanks to an IT infrastructure that ensures reliable access to data. As a result, they are not squirreling away second copies of documents in places that were just as at-risk as the first copy of the document.

Conclusion

In the past, Florida hurricane season gave area businesses real trepidation ' now we have cause for confidence. Rather than hoping that we would dodge a bullet, as we did when all of our servers resided in the office, we are now truly prepared for disaster. Also, our building is subject to the rulings of the Miami-Dade Department of Emergency Management. If a building operator decides to close the building, our office will have to power everything down and go home. With SANsymphony-V now in a remote location, we can do so with peace-of-mind, knowing our attorneys and staff can all fire up a computer or smartphone from wherever they might be, access the Citrix server, and keep working remotely.

When it comes to data protection, capacity and performance management, frankly, our implementation is something you'd see at much larger law firms. Then again, we actually do have the same needs as those firms, particularly in terms of requiring reliable, non-stop availability. Let's face it, there will always be headaches for IT heads ' the constant change brought about by evolving technology ensures that. However, a virtual infrastructure is adaptive and can yield powerful and sustained benefits that ensure maximum ROI. The trick is to approach such deployments realistically: work with strong partners, plan accordingly, invest in quality technology ' and it helps to have managing partners that are practical.

Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez, P.A. (Rennert Vogel) is a mid-size business law firm located in Miami. Our office is home to approximately 30 attorneys, with an additional 50 employees providing support and conducting administrative tasks. The firm provides a full range of legal services to real estate, commercial and financial enterprises, as well as to individuals and entrepreneurs, and our success has paralleled the economic development of Miami and South Florida over the past few decades.

When it comes to IT, the mandate from our Managing Partner, Chuck Rennert, has always been: “Get something good that works.” I'm an aggressive cost-containment oriented person. However, as those in IT would surely agree, it's good to have a decision-maker that is practical and forward thinking when it comes to technology investments. To “nickel and dime” in the short-term is a recipe for disaster when attempting to create an infrastructure that will answer immediate and future IT demands. With this in mind, when we began looking at virtualization ' heralded as a tech area that can shape the fortunes of an organization ' I realized the initiative would need to be approached cautiously to achieve our goals and ensure strong ROI.

My first exposure to virtualization was years ago when I began using Virtual Iron software for server virtualization. This gave me a glimpse at the vast potential benefits offered by a virtualized infrastructure. Soon after, I attended a VMware class that brought me into contact with DataCore Software, a provider of storage virtualization software. I was convinced from that experience that storage virtualization was the best way to go for the same reasons as server virtualization: flexibility, hardware independence and centralized management. It turns out many companies had charged into virtualization without giving much thought to storage, and as a result, many of these initiatives came to a sudden, costly halt.

In terms of storage virtualization, I wanted to take the time to figure out which solution was the best for our firm. I did my homework, and frankly, nearly burned myself out, though a new technology approach always warrants caution. I learned that DataCore was an innovator in storage virtualization software (it would later introduce the industry's first storage hypervisor, SANsymphony-V). Also, its technology was affordable, and the fact that the company was located literally just down the road from our office didn't hurt.

It was early 2008 when we began our first foray into storage virtualization with DataCore, purchasing SANmelody storage virtualization software, the precursor to the SANsymphony-V storage hypervisor, and installing it onsite at our firm's office on the 29th floor of the Miami Tower. The building is 46 stories tall and we were encountering power issues, as well as ' if you can believe it ' flooding. Water would run down from the floors above us, wreaking havoc and reminding us vividly just how important data protection is for our day-to-day business operations.

The first phase of our storage virtualization initiative was straightforward, the objective being to realize better capacity management and increased data protection. We achieved that with DataCore because SANmelody gave us all the benefits of a storage area network (SAN), enabling us to withstand a server failure and not have our data “flushed” out the door. We did achieve some data protection; still, a single point of failure risked the office going offline.

Naturally, our practically minded managing partner did not warm to the idea of our firm potentially losing access to its data. To resolve this, we acquired another storage hypervisor license from DataCore and set up a standalone node in what is known as a cage at Host.net; a co-location, managed services and cloud services provider based in Boca Raton, FL. This allowed us to replicate data over to that facility using Double-Take for backups and remote (asynchronous) replication. Through this configuration we never had any reason to failover.

The Case for a New Venue

I decided to move our entire virtualized infrastructure to the Host.net venue. Most of our production environment servers were moved because once I understood Layer 2 transport, I realized if we put everything in the co-location facility (utilizing the Layer 2 communication model) we would have the added benefit of using the same subnet as the one at our office. Virtual Iron had been acquired by Oracle, so at that point we were using Oracle VM for our server virtualization and DataCore for storage virtualization in the cage at Host.net.

When we moved off Oracle VM to VMware, we took the opportunity to get new SANsymphony-V licenses along with VMware ESX hosts, configuring the virtualized infrastructure as a high availability (HA) environment. Today, we have two SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors running as mirrored copies in the same cage. By virtue of DataCore's storage hypervisors being software-based, we have realized HA that is practical, and the synchronously mirrored systems have certainly achieved our paramount objective of having data redundancy.

The virtualized infrastructure was adopted to help with server consolidation. We had a server for everything, running the gamut from cheap ones to Supermicros, and there was always the worry that if one went down we were going to be in big trouble. Server virtualization gave us relief from server sprawl. However, storage virtualization provided tremendous peace-of-mind by delivering true disaster preparedness, far-better than what we had for data protection and offering benefits that extended well beyond what we achieved through server virtualization alone.

The partners at Rennert Vogel deserve credit for giving me a mandate to find the best solution to fit our needs. HA was what we needed and that is what we got. Sure, we realized other benefits ' including performance and capacity management, and true hardware independence ' but our foremost concern was maximum uptime ' and that's what we achieved through DataCore's storage hypervisor.

As far as the implementation process, we investigated, bought and deployed the equipment with the support of our trusted solutions provider, Miami-based Grove Networks, virtualization systems experts and strong advocates for DataCore Software's storage hypervisor technology.

Within Our Jurisdiction

Today, in the cage at Host.net, two SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors run in front of two Promise storage arrays, with 4 DELL PowerEdge R610 servers running on the iSCSI SAN fabric. Within that setup we run VMware vCenter. Three VMware ESX host servers are on the Dell servers. These connect to the SANsymphony-V storage hypervisors fronting the Promise arrays, which utilize a mix of Serial Attached SCSI and slower Serial Advanced Technology Attachment drives. All the virtual disk capacity for our IT needs is carved out and served up from the virtualized infrastructure, which runs as a HA configuration. The system currently supports 19 virtual machines. Rennert Vogel is connected to these systems via a 100 MB DIA line.

In terms of workloads, the firm has virtualized all the systems one would associate with a dynamic, knowledge-based enterprise. This includes accounting, case management, file servers, Citrix server for remote access, a fax server and two Linux servers ' everything except the Microsoft Exchange server, which is next. The Exchange server is just about to go from physical to virtual, and that too will be protected on the virtualized infrastructure by the HA configuration powered by SANsymphony-V.

The virtualized databases and applications are literally the lifeblood of our firm. A Linux server runs an application I developed that serves as an employee time clock. Another database system running on Linux tracks everything we send to offsite storage. Our accounting system (Juris) is virtualized and runs on Microsoft SQL server. Our case management software (TrialWorks) is virtualized through the SQL server. We have a RightFax server running on the virtualized environment. Our cost-recovery system, EquiTrac, is also virtualized. Additionally, Sherpa Archive Attender runs on the virtualized environment. This archiving software extracts attachments from MS Exchange and puts them all in a database, accessible via a link in the body of email messages, freeing the server from managing that additional capacity.

The file servers on the virtualized infrastructure support our Corporate, Tax, Real Estate and Litigation Departments. The bulk of the workload that choked capacity pre-virtualization was massive PDF files that literally consisted of thousands of pages, and end-users hadn't the foggiest idea how much data storage resources were required to cope with those files. A great volume of documents are required to support a law firm and must be readily accessible. Multi-media, depositions that represent hours and hours of transcribed audio files, e-mails and all attachments ' and the decision here is to retain everything. Currently the virtualized infrastructure supports 6 terabytes (TBs) of data. Because our storage needs continue to grow, I expect that it will not be too long before we need to add another storage array.

The amount of risk reduction that virtualized infrastructure has afforded is really immeasurable. We have two copies of our data, highly available, and that was the objective. We also have realized improved productivity. Gone are the availability hiccups we encountered in the past when relying on lone servers that sometimes just decided not to work. The attitudes of users have changed, too, thanks to an IT infrastructure that ensures reliable access to data. As a result, they are not squirreling away second copies of documents in places that were just as at-risk as the first copy of the document.

Conclusion

In the past, Florida hurricane season gave area businesses real trepidation ' now we have cause for confidence. Rather than hoping that we would dodge a bullet, as we did when all of our servers resided in the office, we are now truly prepared for disaster. Also, our building is subject to the rulings of the Miami-Dade Department of Emergency Management. If a building operator decides to close the building, our office will have to power everything down and go home. With SANsymphony-V now in a remote location, we can do so with peace-of-mind, knowing our attorneys and staff can all fire up a computer or smartphone from wherever they might be, access the Citrix server, and keep working remotely.

When it comes to data protection, capacity and performance management, frankly, our implementation is something you'd see at much larger law firms. Then again, we actually do have the same needs as those firms, particularly in terms of requiring reliable, non-stop availability. Let's face it, there will always be headaches for IT heads ' the constant change brought about by evolving technology ensures that. However, a virtual infrastructure is adaptive and can yield powerful and sustained benefits that ensure maximum ROI. The trick is to approach such deployments realistically: work with strong partners, plan accordingly, invest in quality technology ' and it helps to have managing partners that are practical.