Finished:
January 2021
Category:
Education
Client:
Frie Skolers Lærerforening
Frie Skolers Lærerforening replaces old, Cluster-in-a-Box with new Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solution from DataOn
Frie Skolers Lærerforening
Teachers Union
The Teachers’ Union for Danish Independent Schools, Frie Skolers Lærerforening, or FSL, is a trade union for teachers employed by private and independent solidarity-based schools in Denmark. Their mission is to maintain and promote the professional, educational, legal and economic interests of its members. FSL negotiates their CLA with the Danish Ministry of Finance, provides legal aid to members, handles local negotiations with private schools regarding pay and working hours, and offers crisis and stress counselling.
“One of the main reasons for choosing an HCI solution is the performance and stability in comparison to the price. Not many solutions offer the same performance and stability at the price point of this solution.” – Michæl Busack Bertelsen, Consultant at BiitOps
An returning DataOn & XCES customer
A little over three years ago, FSL transitioned from Citrix XenServer to Microsoft Hyper-V and implemented a DataOn solution. At the time, the proposition of a total package and solution design, combined with the inclusion of the hardware service agreement and the consultant’s, Michæl Busack Bertelsen, strong recommendation, ultimately won management's approval. Over the past few years, DataOn's Cluster-in-a-Box thrived. FSL greatly valued the quality of the hardware and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of issues. With the DataOn Cluster-in-a-Box appliance, they chose a plug-and-play experience. The solution greatly exceeded expectations in performance, delivery time and user downtime during migrations. But unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, including hardware.
Out with the great, in with the better
Since the lifespan of hardware is limited, we had to find a successor to the DataOn Cluster-in-the-Box. Because FSL was so convinced of the added value of the solution, they considered implementing a DataON solution again. Consultant Micheal Busack Bertelsen explained: “One of the main reasons for choosing an HCI solution is the performance and stability in comparison to the price. Not many solutions offer the same performance and stability at the price point of this solution.” The new Azure Stack HCI solution consisted of two all-flash K2N-108 nodes. This two-node system uses the shared-nothing principle by using storage spaces direct (S2D). It's simple and easy to implement with the deployment kit that comes with DataOn's complete solution.
Add-on solution for Azure Stack HCI cluster
As a valuable add-on solution to the Azure Stack HCI cluster in Windows Admin Center, FSL has implemented the unique solution by BiitOps Software, allowing FSL to closely monitor hardware, software and configuration assets. This enables FSL to easily setup and adhere to compliance goals and even track individual day-to-day changes. Regarding the Azure Stack HCI, this solution helps FSL to actively ensure that the nodes are kept at the same hardware driver and software patch level, as well as detect any configuration skews between the cluster nodes.
A well-established, long-lasting relationship
In the past couple of years, the relationship between FSL and XCES has evolved into a sustainable partnership. “XCES has proven to be a stable and professional partner. The few issues we have encountered have been solved in a swift and professional manner. Their support team has been available throughout the entire process and they are very willing to share knowledge when needed,” says Bertelsen.
