The Challenge: A Looming Threat of Technical Debt
With resources stretched thin and business priorities competing, the looming threat of technical debt is a challenge that all organizations must confront. For one of Deep Blue Cloud Computing’s clients, this issue was not just a potential problem, but a ticking time bomb that finally detonated at the worst possible moment.
A Successful Cloud Migration… Until It Wasn’t
The Client’s cloud migration strategy had been a wild success, with Deep Blue successfully migrating hundreds of physical and virtual servers from an on-premise data center into a well-architected AWS greenfield environment. Subject Matter Experts and key users performed all required validation tests throughout the planned cut-over weekend, and all core critical business applications were performing as expected. However, once the Client’s end-users began logging into the network Monday morning, performance and access complaints poured into the service desk.
Reacting swiftly, Deep Blue uncovered the root of the problem-the customer’s Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) infrastructure was unexpectedly failing, preventing all users from accessing ERP systems during crucial sales operations. As RDS was the Client’s sole virtual desktop solution and the primary method for users to access ERP systems, the performance issue was directly impacting the Client’s financial bottom line.
A Rapid Response to a Critical Situation
Our engineering team performed rapid triage and discovered that the architecture was severely underpowered, serving hundreds of users across a modest RDS farm. Further complicating the issue, the Client’s service desk was directing users to bypass the load balancer to log into specific RDS instances, causing the servers to slow to a crawl. Technical documentation of the system did not appear to exist, and the engineers who implemented the solution were long gone from the company.
Understanding the cost of the impact, Deep Blue partnered with the Client to rapidly propose, design, and implement an AWS-based Windows Workspaces solution to replace the ailing RDS servers.
A Swift Recovery and Improved User Experience
Working around the clock, Deep Blue established an initial proof of concept demonstration to obtain executive buy-in, then developed six custom-tailored Workspaces designed for all the Client’s identified personas. After performing UAT validation, Deep Blue onboarded the Client’s 200+ users to the new AWS Workspaces solution while carefully monitoring performance and issues.
Deep Blue’s total response took less than three days, including decommissioning the RDS server farm. At the end of the exercise, the Client’s service desk calls were nearly eliminated, user satisfaction improved, and all business impacts were successfully mitigated.
