Case Study: VMware to 3-Node Hyper-V Cluster with ASR

The Situation

Modernizing legacy IT infrastructure is a growing priority for many healthcare providers, especially when system reliability and uptime directly affect patient care

One Australian healthcare institution was at a crossroads: continue using aging VMware infrastructure with rising support and licensing costs, or find a more sustainable and scalable alternative.

• The hospital’s existing VMware servers were approaching end-of-life, with expiring warranties and increasing maintenance overhead.
• Renewing VMware licenses would result in substantial long-term expenses, prompting the search for a cost-effective alternative.
• The organization also needed a robust disaster recovery (DR) strategy to ensure business continuity, particularly for mission-critical systems.
• With high service availability being non-negotiable, the hospital required an IT overhaul that could deliver both reliability and savings.

How did NSN Infotech help?

NSN Infotech stepped in with a tailored solution that addressed the hospital’s infrastructure, cost, and DR challenges—all without disrupting operations. The strategy combined modern virtualization with intelligent disaster recovery, delivering a future-proof IT backbone for healthcare service delivery.

Implemented a Three-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster

• Nodes: The solution comprises three physical servers, each running Hyper-V to host multiple virtual machines.
• Failover Cluster: All three servers are configured as part of a failover cluster, allowing for automatic failover of VMs to any available node in the case of failure.
• Shared Storage (SAN): The virtual machines utilize centralized shared storage (SAN), allowing access from any of the nodes in the cluster.
• Hardware: The HPE Gen11 servers used in this solution allowed us to forgo the need for a traditional Fibre Channel switch, opting instead for a direct attachment to the SAN, simplifying the architecture while maintaining redundancy.
  • 3x HPE DL360 Gen11 servers with fibre channel support
  • HPE MSA 2062 16Gb FC SFF Storage

Modernized Infrastructure

• Migrated from VMware to Microsoft Hyper-V, enhancing efficiency, resource usage, and scalability.
• The new setup supported load balancing and improved the performance of healthcare applications and systems.
• Streamlined architecture reduced points of failure and simplified ongoing maintenance.
• Deployed Azure Site Recovery for Disaster Recovery
• Rolled out Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to create a cloud-based disaster recovery plan.
• Configured ASR to sync only virtual hard disks, minimizing cloud storage and bandwidth costs.
• Established a site-to-site VPN for secure data transfer between the hospital’s network and Azure VNET.

Achieved Key Outcomes

• Reduced Costs: Eliminated the need for expensive VMware licenses.
• Lowered disaster recovery expenses with Azure’s pay-as-you-use model.
• Improved Resilience: Ensured nonstop operations with automated failover and centralized storage.
• Enabled rapid disaster recovery with minimal overhead.
• Future-Ready Foundation: Delivered a modern, scalable platform prepared for future IT and healthcare needs.