Case Study
Instant Scalability and Reliable Backups for the Hauraki District Council
Overview
Hauraki District sits in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island. With approximately 270 staff members spread across three main service centers, the Hauraki District Council is responsible for providing essential services and maintaining infrastructure within the district.
Searching for a new disaster recovery storage solution
The Hauraki District Council IT team was grappling with a complex disaster recovery process. They used Veeam to back up data onto disks, which were then physically transported to off-site locations. While it provided basic redundancy, this method was labor-intensive, slow, and cumbersome. Jason Mills, the Council’s network operations manager, highlighted this issue: “Recent disasters in New Zealand underscored the challenges of accessing off-site storage during a crisis.”
Caught between the need for a reliable solution and the constraints of their existing system, the Council sought a more efficient storage alternative.
Optimising a disaster recovery solution with Wasabi Cloud Object Storage
In the Council’s pursuit of a more reliable disaster recovery solution, Mills stated, “Veeam’s New Zealand team recommended Wasabi, which we found to be a perfect fit for our needs.” By integrating directly into their Veeam backup instance, Wasabi minimized the Council’s reliance on physical disks and simplified the logistical challenges of off-site storage. “With Wasabi, if data is added at the primary level, it is automatically backed up across the entire system,” Mills said. Wasabi fit into their existing solution with virtually no overhead, instantly scaling up their backup operation. “Backing up to Wasabi eliminates the need to manage storage capacity and ensures comprehensive backups,” he added.
“The predictable cost of Wasabi’s cloud storage allows us to stay within budget while meeting our data storage needs, providing us with the flexibility to scale up as required without breaking the bank.”
– Jason Mills, Network Operations Manager, Hauraki District Council
The Veeam and Wasabi solution exceeded expectations, providing the Hauraki District Council with an efficient and scalable disaster recovery solution. Additionally, Wasabi delivered crucial service predictability and reliability to the Council IT team. Mills emphasized, “The biggest benefit is the predictability of the service. Knowing that if a disaster strikes, we can quickly restore data from Wasabi and resume operations is crucial. We’ve been Wasabi customers for a long time, and every restore or test we’ve done has worked flawlessly.” This reliability of services allows the Council to focus on core responsibilities with confidence. “While low cost is important, we prioritize ensuring we can access essential data from Wasabi in an emergency. Having immediate access to information can be vital for protecting lives.”
Enhancing data security with Wasabi Object Lock
For Mills and team, Wasabi’s S3 Object Lock for object immutability is a vital feature for maintaining the integrity and security of the Council’s data. “We have immutability set for 12 months to two years to ensure that data cannot be removed,” Mills explained. S3 Object Lock ensures that once data is written, it cannot be deleted or altered for a specified period. This is essential for preventing unauthorized deletions in the case of malicious actors or ransomware threats.
Delivering cost-effective, predictable and scalable cloud storage
Mills and team found Wasabi’s predictable pricing helps manage the council’s budget and plan for growth confidently, freeing them from unexpected costs. Cloud solutions like AWS S3 and Azure often bring challenges due to their high costs and unpredictable fees. Monthly bills can soar to tens of thousands of dollars with additional charges for egress and API requests. Wasabi does not add extra fees for data egress or API calls, leading to predictable storage bills each month.
“Wasabi has always provided detailed information about billing and is user-friendly, showing exactly what I’m paying for and why,” Mills said. By providing clear visibility into costs and eliminating hidden fees, Wasabi enables Hauraki District Council to allocate their financial resources more efficiently. Mills added, “The predictable costs of Wasabi’s cloud storage have allowed us to stay within budget while meeting our data storage needs. It allows us to scale up our storage capacity as required without breaking the bank. Wasabi met all the necessary criteria and was an easy choice for us.”
Delivering scalable storage for a sound disaster recovery strategy
Wasabi allows the Council IT team to expand storage capacity seamlessly without significant investments in additional hardware. This scalability means that as data storage needs grow, the Council can accommodate increased demands swiftly and cost-effectively. Mills further emphasized, “Wasabi’s cost efficiency, immutable storage, and regular recovery testing capabilities stand out against other providers.”