CASE STUDIESRESTRUCTURING · MECHANICAL ENGINEERING2023

MTS Maschinenbau

Over 250 users migrated across three countries. Without a shared maintenance window.

PROJECT AT A GLANCE

MTS Maschinenbau

THE TASK: Reorganise IT across three countries.
OUR CONTRIBUTION: Rebuild the platform, directory services and Exchange, then migrate one site at a time.
THE OUTCOME: New sites can be integrated through a defined process. The environment is documented.

THE PROJECT

Starting point
and requirements.

MTS Maschinenbau develops automation solutions. Over 250 users work at sites in Germany, Poland and the US.

Following several expansions and a site acquisition, MTS operated in Germany, Poland and the US. Active Directory and Exchange were redesigned rather than extending the existing structures. Production and delivery schedules ruled out a prolonged interruption.

NON-NEGOTIABLE REQUIREMENTS

The migration had to fit around ongoing production and fixed delivery dates.

IMPLEMENTATION

What Sysfacts
took on.

Analysed critical applications and their dependencies, identifying where existing structures were holding back further expansion
Planned a phased migration because there was no shared maintenance window across the three countries
Built a new hyperconverged platform and redesigned Active Directory and Exchange. Exchange deliberately remained in the company's own data centre
Segmented the network and introduced a multi-tier backup design with an off-site location

AFTER THE PROJECT

What changed for the client.

OUTCOME AND OPERATIONS

New sites and employees can be onboarded through a defined process. The documented environment provides answers to security and audit questions.

PROJECT DATA

users across three time zones: 250
disruptions during cutover: 0

Technical context

A distributed starting point

Over 250 users worked at three sites in Germany, Poland and the US. Expansion and a site acquisition required a redesign of Active Directory, Exchange and the infrastructure.

Platform and identities

A new hyperconverged platform was built on Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct. Active Directory and Exchange were redesigned. Exchange remained in the company's own data centre.

Networking and recovery

The network was segmented. OPNsense runs in an HA cluster. Veeam Backup & Replication and an off-site location form the multi-tier backup design.

Site-by-site migration

With no shared maintenance window available, migration took place in stages. The new structure provides a defined process for adding further sites and employees.

Insights: OPNsense for business: architecture and operations