Vetsource migrates to the cloud to ensure scalability

Why GCP?

Google Cloud Platform is a provider of cloud-based compute, networking, storage and big data services. For compute, they offer a range of services from infrastructure as a service where you manage your own virtual machine to serverless cloud functions where you write your own code leaving Google to manage scale. It is a fully integrated suite of cloud services that make it easier to build products and services.

Initially seeking to expand their local data center and handling all virtualization in-house, Vetsource began looking at cloud platforms as an alternative option when the initial plan fell short of meeting business requirements in a timely manner. GCP stood out because of their excellent customer service, attentive and helpful sales people, and incredible fiber optics network. Craig Sutter, Vetsource CTO, also credits GCP’s clean, simple and intuitive interface as a motivator to migrate to Google Cloud.

Why CloudEndure?

CloudEndure is an independent software vendor (ISV) focused on enterprise workload mobility. CloudEndure partnered with Nortal to live migrate Vetsource’s workloads on both Windows and Linux servers. Without disrupting any workflow, CloudEndure replicated the data in real-time and seamlessly cut over to the GCP target location.

Since moving to the cloud, VetSource has reaped several clear benefits:

• The system operations department is streamlined. Now that Vetsource’s teams are no longer driving to data centers or racking servers, time spent on previous day-to-day maintenance has been greatly reduced.
• Scalability and performance has been impressive. VetSource is hosted in Google’s data center less than 100 miles from their Portland office. They have also experienced improvement among their customer service teams to better serve their customers.
• They are able to prototype and create proof-of-concept projects at a rapid rate.
• Through GCP, they dramatically improved security of infrastructure and platforms.

Nortal’s strategy encompassed migrating applications from Vetsource’s existing infrastructure to Google Cloud. When the project initiated, Nortal’s team discovered that Vetsource’s applications were compacted to maximize server utilization. This application coupling increased the complexity of the migration. In order to address the application stacking, Nortal teams first migrated the servers onto GCP using block-level migration tools, and implemented automation across the deployment process. Once the stacking was addressed, both Vetsource and Nortal teams had the flexibility to create multiple, right-sized machines for single purpose.