Cloud backup infrastructure setup in Azure

Project goals:

• The client’s on-premises hardware was running out of support lifetime.
• It was required to find a cost-effective way to move from the mentioned hardware
• The system consisted of:
  1) a hardware hypervisor with 18 VMs running on top of it;
  2) a storage appliance;
  3) an Email server;
  4) a hardware firewall

Accomplishments:

• A detailed analysis has been conducted, to compare the pros/cons of 3 different ways to address the risks:1) Migrate the system to a brand-new hardware
  2) Migrate the whole system to Azure cloud services
  3) Set up a backup solution in the cloud, to ensure a seamless switch-over to the cloud in case of the on-prem system’s failure.
• A decision has been made to proceed with the 3 rd option implementation
• The backup system has been built in Azure Cloud, utilizing cloud-native services where possible to optimize costs and simplify maintenance (Storage, DB, Mail server, monitoring solution)
• Such an approach allowed us to minimize the cloud deployment costs to 20% if compared to classical cloud migration.

Technologies:

• Azure Cloud
• Azure VM
• Azure Storage
• Azure Database for MySQL
• Windows Server
• Office365

Workload:

• 400 hours

Project team:

• Azure Cloud Architect
• Senior Windows Administrator
• Senior Network Administrator