CRB Windows Storage Server migration

About the company

Cross River Bank is a financial institution based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, United States. It is a state-chartered commercial bank that operates as a technology-focused banking organization. Cross River Bank provides a range of banking services and solutions, particularly in the areas of banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and financial technology (fintech) partnerships. By leveraging technology and partnering with fintech companies, Cross River Bank plays a crucial role in the fintech ecosystem, supporting the growth and expansion of various financial services within the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Problem Statement

The organization was facing challenges with its on-premise application and storage servers, both hosted on Windows. The storage server’s rapid growth necessitated a suitable solution. They were seeking a hybrid cloud storage option to effectively address this problem, providing a seamless connection between the application server and storage solution.

Challenge

The challenge was to migrate an on-premise storage server with a Windows file system to AWS while addressing various critical requirements. The migration had to consider latency to ensure optimal performance, implement robust encryption to maintain data security, establish a reliable backup solution to prevent data loss and maintain permissions to ensure proper access control. Additionally, the application server hosted on-premises had to seamlessly connect to the Windows file server in the cloud, requiring careful planning and configuration to achieve a smooth and efficient migration.

Specifications

• Application server hosted on Windows Server 2016
• Storage server hosted on Windows Server
• Microsoft Active Directory service used for permissions management and access control
• AWS Direct Connect used for the interconnection of on-prem and AWS Cloud.

Solution

After carrying out a requirement analysis with the client, we designed an architecture to address the problem. The system architecture presented is shown in the following figure.

Services

• Active Directory
• Windows Application Server
• Windows Storage Server
• Amazon FSx File System
• AWS Storage Gateway – File Gateway
• AWS DataSync

Migration Plan

AWS DataSync automated and accelerated data transfers to Amazon FSx File System. Then, File Gateway with FSx File system provided the on-prem applications with low-latency access to the migrated data.

Integration Plan

The on-prem and cloud infrastructure were interconnected using AWS Direct Connect. The Amazon FSx File Gateway was mounted using SMB File Share.

Monitoring

• The performance section in the AWS DataSync Dashboard showed the values for Throughput and Transfers.
• Additionally, Cloudwatch logs provided further information regarding various events during the execution of the task.

Result and Benefits

The migration of data from the on-premises storage server to Amazon FSx was executed seamlessly, ensuring a smooth transition of critical data to the cloud environment. The FSx File Server Gateway demonstrated proper functionality, allowing on-premises applications to access the migrated data with ease and efficiency.

In conclusion, the successful migration to Amazon FSx and the efficient functionality of the FSx File Server Gateway allowed the organization to enjoy seamless data access, ultra-low latency, scalability, and high availability, leading to improved operational efficiency and enhanced performance for their applications.