The FDA oversaw a large environment with multiple pieces differing in size, age, and type. In one purview there were five Isilon clusters in four sites, a Pure Storage appliance, a Dell-EMC Unity storage appliance, and a Rubrik backup appliance. Each system required its own skill set to maintain and administer, with some systems being very old and no longer covered under maintenance plans. The change control process is cumbersome and slow due to the sheer number of people and pieces involved, and the best approach to handle the various issues and projects is through teamwork. Coworkers with different specialties work together and help one another when needed, bringing specific knowledge of processes and people within the FDA due to longevity and tenure. This requires patience and a collaborative environment. Configuration changes have to be executed with care, as small changes can be disruptive if done incorrectly or hurriedly.
Take2 instituted training that proved essential to executing the change management process. During the Univa Grid Engine (UGE) to Slurm migration, we had to convince and train users to translate workflows from UGE to Slurm. To achieve this we developed a new documentation site, held new user training sessions to ease the transition, and created a translation tool for the conversion of existing workflows. With a Cloud migration initiative, Take2 completed a Rubrik backup appliance implementation, OS Upgrades of Rubrik, Unity, & Isilon appliances, coordinated appliance disk replacements, created Datastore and LUN on the Unity appliance, Integrated AWS GovCloud with the Rubrik appliance, and executed an Isilon-to-Isilon data migration while decommissioning the legacy Isilon environment.
