Virtualization with VMware in a SAN environment
This is a manufacturing company who had MS SQL, MS Exchange, file servers and Citrix Metaframe running on their servers. All these servers were running on standalone physical servers. They were taking data and system state backups with Veritas backup exec and periodic images of the servers using Acronis software. But their main concern was the time that it will take to restore these images and data, in the event of a physical server failure. Down time incurred during the recovery period could not be afforded because of the impact that it can cause on the critical business functions. Our solution was to virtualise the physical servers with an iSCSI SAN.

The solution fulfilled the following primary objectives
• In the event of a host server hardware failure the ability to restart any of the virtual servers on another virtualized host within ten minutes.
• In the event of a software(OS or APPS) corruption in any of the virtualized servers, they can roll back to the latest working copy of the VM and be back up within few minutes.
• Since data volumes are stored on the SAN independent of any of the Virtual Machines(VM) they can be attached to any running VM when required.

Virtualization with VMware in a non SAN environment
This was a services organization with six servers running Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL for their in house develop ERP application. Both these servers are extremely critical for their business. They were taking tape backups using Symantec Backup exec. Their main concern was the down time in recovering these servers in the event of a breakdown.

The solution achieved the following goals
• Vmware Vsphere ESX was installed on two of their most powerful servers and virtual machines were implemented on direct attached storage to protect their recent investment on hard drives.
• All six servers were virtualized in moved to the direct attached storage on the above two physical servers. So any of the servers could be powered on any one of the above physical servers within few minutes.
• In the event of a server failure data has to be still restored from tape. But the downtime is reduced considerably because the failed server does not have to be rebuilt. In our testing estimation the maximum down time was reduced to 1 hour.
• To reduce the downtime even further currently we are testing a server (VM) replication solution to replicate the live VMs with data to a third host. In the event of a server failure VMs on the third host with current data can be powered up within few minutes.

Retail Automation
The client, a fortune 1000 organization has over 4000 remote POS (Point of Sale) sites across Canada. Synergy IT developed a first of its kind customized solution for networking the POS terminals over a cellular network. Data is polled regularly from remote sites and consolidated at a central data warehouse. The solution eliminates the need for paper based reporting.

The solution fulfilled the following primary objectives
• Automation of the end of day process
• Centralized reporting and management of POS terminals deployed over a large geographical footprint.
• Interfacing with back end ERP systems.

Wireless 802.1x Security solutions
Implemented for a manufacturing organization that had to deploy a secure wireless solution to provide secure wireless access to their corporate network across thin clients on the production floor and mobile laptop users.

Due to certain flaws in WEP (Wired equivalent privacy) encryption method used in 802.11 wireless networks, an attacker can determine the encryption key and gain access to networks. To overcome this security flaw in WEP deployments, the solution we implemented is based on IEEE 802.1X standard that uses PEAP (Protected extended authentication protocol) for authenticating wireless clients.

The solution included
• Microsoft IAS server as a RAIDIUS server
• Microsoft Certificate authority to issue digital certificates
• Cisco Aironet Access points
• WYSE thin clients

Secure Access solution to Access Citrix Meta frame server
This is a manufacturing company with over one hundred users. It is a 24X7 operation that needed high availability. Also some employees needed access to the applications from outside the company premises on a 24X7 basis.

Key Objectives:
1. Provide access to the in house applications over the web.
2. Secure the access to the applications & data
3. Provide load balancing & disaster recovery for the Citrix applications

Solution:
We implemented the Citrix Metaframe presentation server advanced version to host the applications. To provide high availability we implemented two Citrix servers in a load balancing configuration.

To provide secure access to applications; Metaframe secure gateway was deployed in a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the PIX firewall. Employees accessing the company applications connect to the secure gateway securely through an SSL tunnel. To establish the SSL tunnel we used digital certificates. Citrix secure gateway accepts connection requests to applications and communicates with the Citrix presentation server residing in the secured internal network. Once the secure connection is established the employees provide the necessary credentials to access the applications that they are allowed.

Through this deployment employees can have secure access to the company applications from anywhere in the world over the internet. Any future applications that are deployed on the citrix server will be available automatically.

High Availability Server
This was a manufacturing organization that needed high availability for a 24X7 operation.

Key Objectives:
Provide high availability to SAP application.

Solution:
In this implementation we deployed 2way STRATUS FT5600 system to provide very high availability at the hardware level. Stratus has dual systems running in parallel. This configuration is fundamentally different from a cluster. In the STRATUS system every hardware component has a backup. If any of the hardware components fail including the hard drives, the backup component will take over. Failed component can be replaced without having to shutdown the server. STRATUS has 24X7 monitoring system where any failures are monitored continuously and necessary action is triggered.

Structured Cabling
This is a logistics company that needed a reliable cabling structure for Data and Voice.

Key Objectives:
Provide a flexible/scalable Network cabling infrastructure in a new site spanning many buildings

Solution:
We deployed a structured cabling solution for the data & voice services. The solution included provision to accommodate changes in the office setup and future expansion. The design was structured in such a way that the voice and data lines can be used interchangeably. For inter building communications, optical fibers were laid so that there won’t be any interference from external electrical noise.

SAN Project
This is a manufacturing company having ten servers running applications such as SQL, SAP, File/Print servers. Each server had its own direct attached SCSI RAID disk drives. Some of the servers had very little hard drive utilization. Some servers were using them at near capacity. The customer was planning to add more SAP modules that needed bigger drive capacity for the servers running SAP. Different servers had different storage expansion requirements to meet the business needs for the next 5 years.

Key Objectives:
1. Meet the future storage requirements.
2. Storage consolidation to minimize, unused storage space and improve the cost per megabyte of storage.
3. High availability & disaster recovery.
4. Investment protection.

Solution:
Based on customer future business growth, we designed a storage solution. Our solution to address these needs was a storage area network (SAN) based on EMC Clariion CX300. The CX 300 was attached to the servers via Brocade fiber switches. For redundancy purposes each server was installed with two fiber adapters (HBA). They communicate with the CX 300 via independent paths. By using the EMC provided Navisphere the customer is able to expand the storage sizes as and when required on a real time basis without having to shutdown the servers. In the event that one storage path from servers to the SAN fails, EMC powerpath software helps to recover connectivity to the server seamlessly .

The SAP data in SQL databases were migrated from the direct attached storage to the SAN. IBM Tivoli storage manager backup the SAN data onto IBM 3582 tape library. Tivoli manages the complex backup requirement that the customer had. As a disaster recovery solution the SAN data is replicated online to a remote site using WANSYNC software across a T1 communications link. At any given time a current copy of all the data is also available remotely. By using the snapshot feature available in the SAN the customer is able to take a snapshot of all the data at any given time and use that snapshot for backup or testing purposes.

Novell to Windows Migration Project
This customer was also a manufacturing organization. They were using Novell servers to run their DOS based applications. The customer wanted to move to windows server platform while holding on to the same applications.

Key Objectives:
1. Move to windows platform to facilitate future applications
2. Achieve the same functionality they currently have with Novell /DOS environment.
3. Implement disaster recovery so that in the event of primary server failure they will be able to run the business applications from a backup server.

Solution:
Implemented windows 2000 servers and migrated the applications to work on windows 2000 servers. Some of the DOS applications were ACCPAC and Paradox based.

Some batch files used in DOS applications had Novell dependant utilities. It was quite a challenging task to replace those legacy utilities with equivalent windows based utilities to achieve the same functionality. We migrated the applications and data to work in the windows 2000 server environment. Backup domain controllers were setup in active directory environment to recover from any primary server failures.

Windows NT to Linux Migration
This customer is a construction company who had windows NT based servers used as file & print servers. Since they were running out of capacity they wanted to upgrade in a restricted budget.

Key Objectives:
1. Perform the hardware & software upgrade in a restricted budget
2. Improve file access speeds
3. Avoid client access licenses, upgrade licenses etc.
4. Enhance storage capacity

Solution:
Our solution to meet the above objectives was to implement a Redhat Linux server running on a new hardware server with SATA drives. One Linux server was configured as a SAMBA server to facilitate domain access to windows 98, Windows 2000 & Windows XP clients. Other Linux servers were used as file & printer servers. Windows users are able to share files, print documents through the Linux server .

Virtual Hosting
This company is a finance company which does business over the web with more than 250 domains registered under its name.

Key Objectives:
1. Transfer existing 250 virtual hosts from Unix hosts to Windows hosts
2. Implement a separate domain name servers (DNS) to provide name resolutions to all 250 registered domains.
3. Get the existing web applications working on windows
4. Transfer database from DB2 running on Unix to SQL server running on Windows 2000

Solution:
Implemented web servers on Microsoft IIS servers and transferred all the web sites to IIS servers. Some of the applications were modified to run on windows 2000 IIS server. We implemented Domain Name servers to resolve the DNS queries from the internet. The servers were setup in an ISP Data Center. Cisco PIX firewall was used to provide restricted access to internet users and privileged access to administrators to manage the web servers, Domain controllers & application servers.