Case Study – Untangle Network & Finish Server Migration

Executive Summary:
Local retail / online retailer was crippled by issues with their current network and unfinished server migration. Their previous managed IT services vendor (MSP) had left them with a network that was cobbled together with a variety of mismatched technologies that didn’t work well together and part way through a server migration leaving them at risk of hardware failure taking down their business. They needed a network and server that just worked so that day to day business could get done. Farmhouse Networking was brought in to achieve the following:

• Untangle the network mess with a network upgrade
• Finish the server migration & decommission old server
• Automate server maintenance & conform to best practices

Challenges:
Retailer’s recent change of MSP had left them in a mess of unmanaged switches with bottlenecks due to mismatched wire speeds as well as several routers used in place of layer 3 switches to create VLANs, physical segmentation and wireless. The previous MSP had also begun a server migration from an older Windows Server 2008 hardware (which had some very noisy fans) by copying over files to newer Windows Server 2012 hardware but never migrated applications or repointed network resources like file shares or printers. The support they were getting was typical for this area – the retailer pays a monthly fee to have an on-site tech show up once a month to take care of all issues they have compiled with all other support calls being at an additional charge.

Solution:
Simplified the network down to a hub and spoke topology with a single business class router feeding a managed switch at each of their three buildings on the property which then connected to business class wireless access points. The server migration was completed by redoing the file transfer, re-pointing all network drives via group policy, re-deploying all network printers via group policy, and migrating all applications. Best practices were implemented via file permissions and further group policy to properly protect the server from unauthorized access. Remote monitoring and maintenance agent was installed to provide automated server maintenance.

Results:
The retailer’s network is now running smoothly and is constantly reporting to the cloud management console its current status. All network traffic is segmented properly via VLANs and public traffic is bandwidth restricted via QoS to keep them from hogging the connection. The new server is running smoothly (making much less noise too) with all applications and resources being accessed easily. Farmhouse Networking took over network management of the retailer with managed antivirus, managed updates and documented network security practices.