Case Study | Heartland Technology Solutions

Customer Heartland Technology Solutions

Industry IT Services

Products TeraStation WSS Windows Storage Server

StorageCraft ShadowProtect

StorageCraft ImageManager

Goals To implement an aordable and

ecient disaster recovery solution.

Identify flexible and eective method of providing maximum data protection.

Economically upgrade clients hardware with capacity and scalability as key considerations.

SolutionTeraStation WSS Windows Storage Server

used with StorageCraft ShadowProtect

ResultsHeartland Technology Solutions now has

an eective and comprehensive solution

for preserving the integrity of clients data.

Reliable storage hardware

Seamless Windows integration

Quick and ecient installation

Quick restoration in the event of a disaster

Minimized downtime

Fast-growing IT services provider implements eective backup and restore solution for businesses hit by catastrophe to maintain data integrity through any kind of disaster.

Heartland Technology Solutions has been taking care of business in the

nations Midwest for more than 26 years. As one of the nations fastest-

growing managed service providers specializing in solutions for small to mid-sized businesses and K-12 educational institutions, the company sprung into action in May 2011 to help companies get back on their feet after an EF5 tornado devastated more than 500 businesses in Joplin, Missouri.

The ChallengeThis natural disaster dramatically illustrated the eects of catastrophic data

loss and the need for eective backup and disaster recovery strategies.

Studies have estimated that nearly half of the small to midsized businesses which suer catastrophic data loss stand to go out of business within five

years. But even the loss of a single file can interrupt business processes and

result in costly downtime. Heartland engages in ongoing eorts to identify

and implement better and more eective ways to ensure data integrity

through any kind of disaster.

Later in 2011, Heartland embarked on what became a year-and-a-half evaluation of hardware and software to identify more flexible and eective

ways of providing maximum protection for its clients dataand its own. The

dedicated backup and recovery system that Heartland had been using had

begun to show its ageand its limitations. Cost, capacity and scalability were key considerations; upgrades to the old system required the purchase of an

entirely new hardware.

Action TakenHeartland opted for a combined solution, choosing Bualo Americas for hardware and StorageCraft Technology Corporation for software. Heart-

land selected Bualos TeraStation WSS NAS Appliance and StorageCrafts

ShadowProtect and ImageManager as its backup and disaster recovery

software. Because the TeraStation WSS runs Microsoft Windows Storage

Server, it proved to be an ideal platform for ShadowProtect and ImageMan-ager, which are designed to run on Windows-based systems. The TeraStation WSS uses industry-standard RAID 5 technology to provide the fault-tolerance that is necessary for data back-up solutions.

Heartland was so impressed with the performance of the combined oering

that they not only began replacing backup-and-recovery systems at each

client site with the new solution, they implemented it as the backup solution for their data center as well. Very quickly, it became central to Heartlands solutions oering.

Heartland serves a number of rural clients in tertiary markets where high-speed Internet connections are often unavailable, and clients sometimes struggle to achieve even a 512 Kbps upstream connection. Using ShadowProtect, Heartland creates an initial seed image and stores it on an external device, such as a USB hard drive. That device is shipped to Heartlands data center to be replicated on the server.

By shipping the disk with the initial seed image, the client avoids having to upload gigabytes of data over its Internet connection. The incremental backup can transfer at its own pace so the backup isnt throttled by their Internet connection.

It will run even if their Internet connection is down and can transfer the incremental updates when the connection is

restored.

The clients Windows-based servers, running applications such as Exchange or SQL, use StorageCraft ShadowProtect to back up data to the TeraStation WSS that is located on-site. StorageCraft ImageManager, which runs on the TeraStation at the client site, sends incremental changes to Heartlands data center in Papillon, Nebraska, to update the o-site image. Heartland uses multiple TeraStation WSS units at their data center to store their clients ShadowProtect images.

ShadowProtect not only backs up data, it creates an image of the entire operating system and all applications, settings and data les. Everything that is on the server is contained in the image. In a disaster recovery scenario, the image data can be used to quickly restore an entire servereven to dierent hardware. The image can also be restored to a virtual machine to

minimize downtime. When clients want to recover, they dont have to go to a web portal and download a le; they can just pick the files they need and restore them on the fly.

For their own use, Heartland reversed the process used for their clients. Since Heartlands data resides at its data center, the backups are made from the data center to TeraStation WSS devices located in their oces.

Results

TeraStation WSS Windows Storage Server NAS appliance combined with StorageCraft ShadowProtect oers a cost eec-

tive and comprehensive solution for Heartlands clients, preserving the integrity of valuable data.

We were looking for something that would allow us to be more creative with our solutions. This combination oered a

flexible solution scalable to a variety of needs.

- Derek KuhrNOC Manager, Heartland Technology Solutions

The protected data is always accessible because it is continually backed up. In turn, the backup is archived o-site at the data center, ensuring a prompt recovery if disaster strikes. It just works! said Kuhr.

Key BenetsWindows Storage Server platform ideal for StorageCraft software

Initial seed image oers quick installation with paced incremental backup to reduce throttling

On-site backup solution with with o-site imaging

Quick data restoration to a virtual machine for minimal downtimeEconomical and comprehensive backup soltuion to ensure data integrity

11100 Metric Blvd. Ste. 750Austin, TX 787581-800-688-7466www.BualoAmericas.com

Case Study | Heartland Technology Solutions

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