DataCore announced that JMR Construction has become a DataCore SANmelody customer courtesy of DataCore partner Integral Networks. VMware and DataCore serve as a way forward for the DataCore partner and customer alike. The combination provides a cost effective alternative that made it practical for JMR to save by not having to invest in additional, physical servers.

JMR Construction is a longstanding customer of DataCore partner Integral Networks. Integral set up JMR with its first server to run their terminal-based system six years ago. The IT model at JMR was to leverage terminal services for application delivery by providing secure, remote access to all of their employees out in the field. Simply put, the IT team wanted to be out of the business of worrying about individual machine configurations. The overall goal was to have all employees able to collaborate and access applications from wherever they were located through centralized, terminal server systems. As JMR grew, Integral Networks was faced with the problem that the IT environment at JMR was getting increasingly complex. For Integral Networks, as JMR’s IT solutions provider, trying to accommodate that environment was fraught with hurdles. Integral Networks saw firsthand that JMR did not have the physical space, the necessary power, nor the air-conditioning required to cope with a growing glut of servers.

DataCore and VMware Deliver Immediate Value
“We needed a different approach to deal with growth and we are pleased with the virtualization results we have seen from using DataCore and VMware,” commented Ron Rivard, vice president, JMR Construction Corp. “Not only did we save by not having to invest in more hardware, but we did not have to worry about how we were going to deal with the expense and logistics of computer room space, the costs of cooling and the growing power requirements. DataCore and VMware increased productivity by making a small number of servers and storage devices do the job that took many to do – making it much more feasible than the alternative, hardware-centric approach.”

“JMR was overwhelmed by a glut of servers and it was at that point that we said ‘enough is enough’,” said Bryan Badger, senior systems engineer, Integral Networks. “If they went the physical server route that would just mean adding to the problems and not really addressing their long term needs. They did not have the space, nor the power and cooling for more systems and after looking into it, we knew that would be far too expensive to implement. However, when we scoped out what was needed to go virtual with two VMware ESX hosts and DataCore SANmelody, we saw a solution that could deliver services, grow with their needs and deliver immediate value – in terms of lower upfront costs; in terms of what we was saved in operational costs and maintenance fees; as well as what would be gained by staff productivity from the ease-of-use and overall manageability.”

The Way Forward: A Virtual Foundation
Integral Networks evaluated the situation and chose the virtual path for its customer, installing two VMware ESX servers at JMR and virtualizing and consolidating all of JMR’s existing servers. “Instead of having twelve physical servers, JMR now has two physical servers that are part of a complete virtual infrastructure supporting twelve virtual machines,” explained Badger. “In addition, there are other physical servers that are part of the overall environment. JMR is using SANmelody as the back-end storage infrastructure for all systems. The system virtualizes their storage, utilizes iSCSI connectivity in order to network and deliver storage resources, provides data protection, and enables the shared storage foundation needed to both run and to get the most out of VMotion and VMware.”

JMR Construction focuses primary on construction projects contracted by the federal government. The company is a small-to-midsize enterprise employing about 40 people directly. “Integral Networks maintains our entire infrastructure, upon which we run our business,” explained Rivard. “Our employees access the computer systems almost 24/7 and Integral Networks are the ones that make sure it stays up and running, that we stay up on the latest technology and that we are able to use the latest technology effectively – like we have done with virtualization. Any problems our users have on a daily basis are addressed and our partner ensures that all of our security needs are covered.”

Integral Networks is also deploying an additional SANmelody solution for JMR that will reside offsite at Integral’s data center and utilize DataCore’s asynchronous mirrors over IP connections to replicate data between JMR’s primary office in Folsom, California, and Integral’s office in Sacramento. This site will serve as a secondary site, whereby JMR will not only have disaster recovery capability but also offsite back-ups. “The price point, the ease-of-use and ease-of-configuration of SANmelody is truly awesome,” concluded Badger. “We are not just a DataCore partner. We are a SANmelody user ourselves – using it extensively in our own data center. I have looked at other storage virtualization products and as far as I am concerned they just do not compare to DataCore.”