First of all, I'd like to apologize to those who have attempted posting comments on my latest 3 entries. For some reason comments on these entries are Closed and it is a TypePad issue with those who are using 3rd party editors. In fact, TypePad does not even list my latest 3 entries as present although there are there. That means I can not fix the comments issue unless I delete the blogs and re-post them using the TypePad editor...How's that for an inconvinient workaround? Again, my apologies.
Anyway, right after I got out of college I was hired as a Tech Support Engineer by a small Supecomputing company called Convex Computer Corp. For me, Convex served as a great learning institution, not only from a technological standpoint but also from a cultural perspective. The company was not just product focus as many small companies are today, but it also paid particular attention to Customer satisfaction pre and post sales. In fact, if you were to walk into our Support Center in Richardson, Texas, there was a big sign posted saying "Take Care of YOUR Customer or Someone else Will". Convex meant it. So does NetApp and that's one of the reasons a lot of us love to work here.
I've removed the Company names as well as the names of the individuals involved to protect their privacy and competitive advantage...as well as ours.
The NetApp Experience - Are you experienced?
In the summer of 2005 1 began a search to find and implement a distance DR replication solution for our data center. The solution we need would have to be able to replicate SQLServer 2005, Exchange, and millions of standard document files (Flat Text, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
We needed to have the data at the backup site in such a manner that we could achieve a maximum 2 hour RTO and RPO. We wanted to do this with as close to zero foot print on the servers hosting the data as possible.
I spent many long hours with various storage and software vendors over several years trying to find the solution that would fit our stringent criteria. Many said they could but when we put their solutions to the test they failed to deliver.
In the winter of 2007 1 was introduced to NetApp storage. At first I wasn't interested because NetApp didn't do fiber channel based storage solutions, only iSCSl and NAS. I am happy to say my presumption was wrong.
XXXX did an excellent job of introducing me not only to the products that NetApp has to offer but how the solutions work in painstaking detail.
He obtained time in your XXXX lab to setup a model of our full database environment and perform some preliminary real world tests of the products we were going to use. During our time in the lab there was no limit to the technical resources that were made available to us to make sure that things were working properly.
I can remember spending hours working with XXXX to understand how Snap Manager for SQL actually works under the covers. Most of this discussion happened after 5PM and he stayed with us until 8:30PM in the lab. He seemed almost as excited as we were to get it working.
After the preliminary tests proved promising, we proceeded into the next phase of the project, an onsite trial. We began to interact with several more people in the engineering department. In particular, we worked closely with XXXX and XXXX to develop a test plan and a realistic timeline to conduct the tests over.
The help didn't stop there. XXXX also worked with us to make sure we had the tools necessary to perform the tests and record the results. XXXX made himself available to us to do the initial consult on disk layout. He was instrumental in guiding the initial installation of our environment. XXXX and XXXX implemented Don's design in short order.
The other important thing to understand during this process is the engineers didn't just do the work. They took the time to explain what they were doing and why. We take a high level of ownership in all hardware in our datacenter. The NetApp SANs were to be no different. This knowledge transfer was critical to make this a success. While they were teaching us, we created much of the documentation that we use now to guide our day to day operations.
As we worked through the agreed upon tests XXXX and XXXX checked in frequently to make sure things were on track. If we encountered any problems they made themselves available to solve the problem and make sure we understood why the problem happened. A fair number of these calls happened after normal business hours, in the very early morning, and on the weekend. They were always there for us. Ultimately we found that unlike previous experiences NetApp delivered largely what they promised.
There were some tweaks to the plan but overall our expectations were met and we are very happy. We are within tolerance on our DR replication which gives us a huge competitive advantage over our peers. Not only that but it helped us change how we provide our report, test, and development database environment.
Previously, this process would take at approximately 4.5 hours to complete. Now it takes
0.5 hours. Now that we have completed all phases of this project I have a new perspective on hardware acquisition. It's not only important to weigh the quality of the hardware but also the mettle of the people servicing the hardware. Without both of these you're not really solving the problem but introducing new issues to your critical operations.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Director of Infrastructure
XXXXXX Company
