Sustainable renewal and expansion of storage systems to ensure smooth public transportation in and around Basel

Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB), a key player in public transportation in northwestern Switzerland, recognized the need to renew and expand its storage system environment. The focus was on protecting the investment and promoting environmental sustainability. The solution consisted of two NetApp All-Flash FAS A400A HA systems, distributed across two data centers, to enable rapid failover in the event of failures, and a hybrid storage system for backups. Ransomware protection was enhanced through a centralized Veeam solution and a Quantum solution. The implementation was carried out in phases, including an operating system upgrade, as well as the installation and configuration of the new systems. The expansion with Veeam and Quantum stabilized the backup and recovery process and enhanced protection against ransomware. Thanks to the solution implemented by AXIANS, BVB can now respond flexibly to business requirements and provides efficient protection for the transportation system.

Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB)

Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB), founded in 1895 and operating as a public-law institution since 2006, is the largest partner in the Northwest Switzerland fare network. With a dedicated team of over 1,350 employees, they ensure smooth operations 365 days a year and transport more than 106 million passengers annually. Every day, over 290,000 people use the nine tram lines with 85 tram sets as well as 14 bus lines with 139 buses.

Within BVB, the ICT department reports to the Corporate Staff division and is known as Information Services. This department is responsible for the entire infrastructure related to workstations, telephony, system management, and operations. The Information Services division is not only responsible for implementing IT projects but also for support and operational tasks related to hardware and software. In addition, it ensures that available resources are used efficiently.

Project Overview

  • Background

    Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) faced the task of upgrading and expanding its existing storage system environment, which had been fully put out to tender in 2015. The old environment consisted of two NetApp FAS8020 nodes (active-passive) and a NetApp FAS2554 as a backup solution.

  • Goal

    • In addition to the need to bring the technology up to date, BVB placed particular emphasis on protecting its investment and environmental responsibility. They wanted to ensure that currently functioning systems would not be replaced and scrapped prematurely. Therefore, the following specific services were expected as part of the upgrade:
    • Lifecycle replacement of existing components (tech refresh)
    • Maintenance services for all storage components (both existing and new), including 24/7 support

  • Optional

    • Delivery of additional storage components compatible with the existing system
    • Provision of these storage components

    “Choosing AXIANS was an easy decision: our positive experiences, impressive expertise, and strong track record with NetApp and Veeam won us over. And all of this at a competitive price.” Martin Peraic, Head of IT at Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe

  • Solution

    • BVB has optimized its storage environment with two NetApp All-Flash FAS A400A HA systems, which are distributed across two data centers in an asynchronous disaster recovery (DR) configuration. This enables a rapid switchover in the event of a failure. In the event of a failure or other issues at the primary data center, BVB can switch the entire workload to the secondary data center. This ensures that public transportation in and around Basel continues to run smoothly at all times.
    • For backups, the primary storage environment is transferred to the FAS2720 hybrid storage environment using NetApp’s proprietary tools. To enhance protection against ransomware attacks on the backups, the existing backup strategy—which consisted of many applications—was migrated to a centralized Veeam solution. This was further enhanced with an additional Quantum solution to provide more robust and efficient protection.

  • Implementation

    • As part of this project, the existing systems were replaced with two NetApp All-Flash FAS A400A HA systems and one FAS2720A HA hybrid storage system. To begin, the existing NetApp environment (2xFAS8020A, 1xFAS2554) was prepared for migration:
    • Step-by-step upgrade of the ONTAP operating system for all three systems to ONTAP 9.8
    • Integration of the cluster switches for migration at the BVB premises
    • Conversion of the switchless cluster to a switched cluster using AXIANS rental switches

    Subsequently, the basic installation of the new NetApp environment was carried out, configured as follows:

    • Installation of the systems in racks and connection to power
    • Connection of the systems to the existing network infrastructure
    • Basic configuration of the systems according to the installation manual
    • Integration of the new systems into the existing switched clusters

    Following the successful migration and dismantling of the old infrastructure, the next step involved expanding the solution with Veeam and Quantum components. This served to solidify the backup and recovery process and significantly strengthen protection against ransomware attacks.

    “The collaboration with AXIANS was excellent. Regular status meetings ensured that all stakeholders were always kept informed about the current status of the project. This enabled agile and rapid implementation of design adjustments, leading to an efficient and successful collaboration.” Martin Peraic, Head of IT at Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe

Results

Thanks to the storage and backup solution implemented by AXIANS, BVB now has an optimized primary storage environment and a refined backup strategy. The flexibility of the NetApp and Veeam solutions enables BVB to respond promptly to the needs of its various business units and provide the necessary resources whenever they are needed.
“AXIANS’s expert support during implementation was crucial. Implementing our project was challenging because it involved various technologies and components that interacted with one another. AXIANS excellently coordinated communication with the suppliers and thus successfully guided us to our goal. We are already planning further projects with AXIANS, including the migration of our storage environment to NetApp Metro Cluster,” summarizes Martin Peraic, Head of IT at Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe.

Axians Logo in einer Fensterscheibe