Switch from ageing SQL Server dramatically increases speed and availability of medical database

A London-based fertility clinic operating complex, custom-made medical databases and customer relationship management software.

The Challenge

Ageing SQL Server cluster members and dependent servers meant that the clinic’s most critical application was experiencing a growing number of issues and downtime.

The antiquated database system had become very slow, leading to significant inefficiencies. Compounding the challenge – one of the servers kept failing, resulting in a jump to the backup server, further slowing things down. The need for regular onsite maintenance also led to downtime as services were restarted manually.

With health professionals needing to log into the database system around the clock, this regular downtime was unacceptable.

The Solution

We began by creating new network storage on a brand new, much faster server. It took just one night for the 60GB database to be moved – eliminating damaging downtime. The old server was cloned, and the SQL Server cluster was reconfigured, preserving all data, as well as the clinic’s additional external medical integration services.

The outcome

From initial fault finding to switchover, the project lasted approximately six months. Users now benefit from a fast system with increased availability, eliminating the constant worry of not being unable to access the database when needed.

From a support perspective, the upgrade greatly reduced the number of database maintenance calls. The switch has also dramatically reduced the complexity of the disaster recovery plan. As part of the work, a virtual machine server was created, which offers much more flexibility and redundancy than physical servers.