Datadobi enables CBX to migrate entire distributed data storage infrastructure

Recently, the NetApp data storage platform and associated software on which CBX had long relied on was end-of-life. This meant that no additional firmware, patches, or upgrades would be made available. In addition, warranty support would soon come to an end. CBX decided that its best option would be to remain with NetApp and upgrade to the vendor’s newest platform. In doing so, it would not only remain with a brand it trusted but CBX would also benefit from increased capabilities and heightened security. With this decision made, the next critical consideration was how best to migrate the NAS data from its existing data storage environments to the new. The data migration would involve the entirety of CBX’s client and internal business production data housed across two geographically dispersed locations in Minneapolis and New York City.

CBX reached out to their technology vendor SHI, for a recommendation on how best to proceed. SHI highly recommended Datadobi, and its DobiMigrate enterprise-class migration software for NAS and object data. 

“SHI assured us that DobiMigrate could be trusted to deliver in the most complex and demanding environments, while ensuring that we meet our data security and integrity objectives for migration to our new storage,” said Don Piraino, IT Manager, CBX. “The fact that Datadobi is also vendor-agnostic and has the ability to move data from any vendor’s platform to another heterogeneous platform on prem, remote, or in the cloud added to my comfort level. It is nice knowing that I am not locked into any one vendor. But more importantly for me, this spoke to Datadobi’s industry unique experience managing diverse migrations across many different platforms and environments.”

“We couldn’t allow even a moment of downtime or loss of data availability of any kind. The migration involved every single piece of CBX data – from client to CBX business data, spread across two geographically dispersed locations,” Piraino explained. “Typically, we use NetApp SnapMirror, but we knew it wasn’t the answer for this level of a migration. With DobiMigrate, we finished in weeks, rather than in months, with not even one hiccup.”

When asked what advice Piraino would offer others contemplating an enterprise class data migration, he replied, “We had a Datadobi Implementation Specialist dedicated to ensuring the success of our migration initiative… Having that level of expertise was invaluable. Nothing happened without Datadobi making sure it was being done correctly. It was such a load off my mind.”

Piraino concluded, “The final cutover was really smooth – with absolutely zero impact on any of our team’s work. We completed it on a Friday evening. And on Saturday morning, everything was up and running. When you, your internal users, and your boss feel zero pain, that’s always a good thing.”