The case study below was submitted by Ralph Andersen, Director of IT at Andersen & Sons Shelling.
Brief description of Andersen Shelling’s SQL Server environment:
We have multiple SQL Server instances running on virtual machines. The important ones being our production software Parity Factory, and Sage 100 for accounting.
Why did Andersen Shelling choose SQL Solutions Group for its database needs?
Randy’s credentials were top notch. His familiarity with both the setup of the virtual machines as well as in-depth knowledge of SQL Server.
Describe the scope of the work SQL Solutions Group undertook for Andersen Shelling.
Review and reconfiguration of virtual machines running SQL Server. Review of SQL Server performance of Parity Factory. Ongoing monitoring of critical SQL Servers.
What are the outcomes of this work?
There were a lot of changes to the virtual hardware of the Parity Factory virtual machine. This allowed the performance to increase with an actual decrease in allocated resources. Their observations of the Parity Factory SQL performance allowed me to counter claims from that company about the cause of Parity having poor performance.
The ongoing monitoring continues to give me hard data to refute their claims that poor performance is virtual machine or host related.
How did the project help Andersen Shelling be more competitive and/or productive?
They allowed us to correct the setup on our virtual machines and be confident they did not need any tinkering. This freed up I.T. resources to work on other issues. The ongoing monitoring also takes some of that burden off the I.T. staff.
What would you tell a company that was considering using the services of SQL Solutions Group?
SQL Server is EVERYWHERE. Some are big and obvious while others are not. Very few organizations have a dedicated database resource and certainly not of the caliber of SSG’s staff. The installation of SQL Server is complicated and mostly done in the background as part of the installation of the front-end application. This is further complicated when done in the virtual environment.
There is real value in having someone who lives and breathes SQL Server at the highest level like SSG to review your running instances and make recommendations. You will get more reliable and less resource-hungry installs. If you don’t have your own SQL expert, you are at the mercy of the software provider’s word when things aren’t running well. Having SSG in your corner will keep them honest. You could say we’re nuts about SSG!
