Case Study: Financial Services success story
“We have had to recover multiple lost files, and what was once a major chore is now a very simple process.”
The Challenge
BlackLine needed to update their entire infrastructure to support their rapid growth. Previously they were using a mix of Cisco UCS, VMware, NetApp storage and another backup vendor, and found the administration of these disparate solutions to be very demanding. They have two data centers to manage and protect—one remote and one located at the headquarters. Moreover, they had lots of rapidly changing data and the need to streamline operations. BlackLine also wanted to utilize their own cloud for data protection and disaster recovery, which their backup vendor did not support.
“Unitrends Support has been great from day one.”
To prepare for growth and reduce the administrative burden, BlackLine chose Nutanix Acropolis hyperconverged platforms running AHV. “I was a huge VMware fan, so I was the last VMware holdout” Lockwood, Systems Administrator, says. “I could not see how AHV could match VMware’s performance.” Now Lockwood is a Nutanix convert. “I love AHV. The VMware charges were killing us and AHV has superior performance.” To protect the new Nutanix environment, BlackLine purchased two Unitrends Recovery Series 823S hardware appliances. Unitrends and Nutanix have integrated hypervisor-level support for Nutanix AHV to provide native, agent-less protection for Nutanix workloads. At BlackLine, one Unitrends Recovery Series appliance is deployed at the remote data center and the other in the main office building. The two devices replicate to each other as they are located far enough apart to be unaffected by a single downtime event. The Unitrends appliances manage data replication and disaster recovery.
Follow Up
“The new combined Nutanix/Unitrends solution works great,” Lockwood says. “The integration was a breeze. We have had to recover multiple lost files, and what was once a major chore is now a very simple process.” One aspect of working with Unitrends that Lockwood notes is Unitrends’ customer service. “Unitrends Support has been great from day one. We had an issue with the initial setup and the Unitrends Service Engineer took control of the system and just fixed the problem. Between Unitrends and Nutanix I have two of the most easily managed solutions there must be.”
“We have had to recover multiple lost files, and what was once a major chore is now a very simple process.”
Between Unitrends and Nutanix, I have two of the most easily managed solutions.
BlackLine
Based in Woodland Hills, CA, BlackLine has become a leading provider of cloud software that automates and controls the entire financial close process. Their vision is to modernize the finance and accounting function to enable greater operational effectiveness and agility. They now have almost 200,000 users in over 150 countries. Walt Lockwood is a Systems Administrator in charge of managing BlackLine’s IT infrastructure.
Learn MoreUnitrends Solution for BlackLine
Protected Environment
- Nutanix HCI Platforms
- Nutanix AHV
Benefits
- Integrated protection for AHV
- Rapid file recovery
- Full disaster recovery
"Cost and versatility the application comes in two forms an appliance or Virtual Appliance (aka install as a VM). Each has its advantage and disadvantages."
"Firstly I like that once we got it configured initially, we hardly had to touch it. The backup schedules run regularly and send email reports to confirm they are done. Secondly the user interface is intuitive and easy to use."
"I think the best has been the support. The few times we have had issues or questions, we've been able to get someone local to the United States and have no problems with the answers given."