HIS HANSE IT Systeme GmbH

Description

The customer wanted to modernize its existing heterogeneous IT infrastructure without having to switch to the cloud. The company's strategy called for an on-premises solution that was future-proof, scalable, easy to operate, fail-safe and optimally protected. Together with the service provider, a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) was set up that combines servers, storage, and virtualization in an integrated platform. Customer requirements:

Solution

1. Building a two-tier, geo-redundant HCI cluster Two fully equipped HCI clusters in separate data centers Synchronous/asynchronous replication for high availability Automatic failover & self-healing Centralized management via a single interface
2. Seamless scalability Clusters can be expanded at any time by adding additional nodes No interruption to operations Resources adapt flexibly to company growth
3. Virtualization of all legacy systems Physical servers have been completely virtualized Legacy applications run stably and securely in the cluster Unified backup and restore processes
4. Air gap backup + WORM storage All important machines are additionally backed up on completely isolated air gap storage No permanently active network connection to the productive HCI environment Protection against scenarios such as: Complete encryption of the productive environment Simultaneous failure of both data centers Internal sabotage Ransomware spreading throughout the network A separate, switched-off legacy server landscape is only kept in reserve for emergencies. These servers are: physically separated switched off by default not connected to the network of the productive environment In the event of a disaster, they serve as: computing power hypervisor capacity isolated DR platform Full SSD technology for immediate start-up of the secured machinesstrong>Air-gap storage is based entirely on SSD technology. This allows backed-up machines to be started directly from the air-gap system in an emergency without restoration. The emergency environment is started very quickly directly on the old servers that are kept in reserve, without any dependence on the productive HCI infrastructure.
5. Automatic backup function check (backup verification) Backups are automatically started in a secure test environment. Start behavior, integrity, and services are checked.
6. Fully automated operation (managed service) HIS takes care of: Monitoring Updates Patching Security Capacity planning 24/7 error detection
7. Extremely fast disaster recovery Failover within the HCI clusters In case of total loss: Activate air gap environment → Start old servers (emergency environment) → Boot machines directly from SSD storage Critical systems are up and running again in minutes

Results

Result: Even if data center A and data center B fail or are encrypted at the same time, the customer is able to set up a complete, isolated emergency environment within a very short time.