Migration from Small Business Server to Windows server.

Established in 1999, Marine Insure is a Lloyds Broker with a particular emphasis on marine business.

Overview

Marine Insure have recently expanded and the company now has over 25 internal users. Because of the expansion, their existing Small Business Server was starting to struggle with the day to day demands of the business, Marine Insure also had concerns about the business relying on a single Small Business Server for both data and email; if their existing server was to fail then it would have serious financial consequences for the company as a stable network is paramount for their business continuity.

Proposal

Our IT Department proposed a project for migration from a Single Small Business Server environment to multi server network, running a separate Windows Server and Exchange Server. This type of network would easily cope with the existing user base on the network and any additional users added to the network in the future. As Marine Insure were concerned about relying on a single hardware solution, a separate Exchange Server was recommended to handle the email independently from the Windows Server. Marine Insure agreed for the project to take place and a project manager was allocated the task of implementing the new network infrastructure.

Advantages of working in a multi-server environment

• Data or email will still be accessible in the event of a hardware fault, avoiding total network failure.

• The speed and stability of the network is enhanced as the resources required to run both Windows and Exchange Server are handled by two points of hardware.

Project implementation

The project was completed from start to finish in four days by two senior engineers. During this time both the new Windows Server and Exchange Server were installed and configured, all data was migrated from the existing server to the new servers, all workstations were added onto the new domain and all peripherals on the network were also configured and tested. A day was spent testing the new infrastructure including the testing of all user accounts and applications. Disruption to Marine Insure 's normal working routine was avoided by completing the migration of data and testing of the network over a weekend period.

Conclusion

Marine Insure now have a stable network that will cope with any future expansion of the company. They also have peace of mind that their entire network is no longer reliant on a single point of hardware.