LKAB
Since the start in 1890, north Sweden has been LKAB’s home base. LKAB’s identity is rooted in Malmfälten (“the Ore Fields”) – or more specifically in LKAB’ mines in Kiruna and Gällivare.
LKAB Steps into the Future with Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
LKAB’s mine in Kiruna is the world’s largest iron ore mine. Large-scale iron ore mining has been ongoing here for nearly 120 years, operating every day, 365 days a year. For administration, mining operations, and personnel safety, IT systems are crucial, and any downtime can have enormous consequences.
– It was a significant migration, so there was certainly some concern beforehand. We were moving our entire heart, says Rory Wikman, section manager for IT operations. He took over after the project phase and began using the environment.
– My main interest is to ensure that operations run as smoothly as possible. The migration truly exceeded our expectations; it went incredibly smoothly, he says.
"It was a significant migration, so there was certainly some concern beforehand. We were moving our entire heart"
Testing Environment Sparked Interest
As early as 2013, LKAB set up a testing environment with Nutanix to evaluate the technology. They were among the first in Sweden to implement Nutanix.
– In the fall of 2013, we were contacted by LKAB, who had heard about Nutanix and wanted to evaluate new technology for future data centers. We presented the platform to them, and they found it promising, says Johan Tungström from NetNordic, adding:
– The testing environment was ready in January 2014, and they were very impressed with the results right from the start.
LKAB’s regular machine park, installed in 2012, consisted of two Vblocks with equipment from companies like Cisco, VMware, and EMC. One option would have been to continue building on the same infrastructure as the equipment approached end-of-life, but instead, LKAB chose to make a technological leap.
– Reinvesting in the existing equipment would be too costly, and we didn’t want to continue with the older technology; we were curious about hyper-converged data centers, says Rory Wikman.
Since LKAB is a company wholly owned by the Swedish state, a public procurement process was conducted to determine which solution would be the best fit. The bidding process included a plethora of solutions from both established companies and newcomers.
– We considered everything from traditional SAN solutions to other competing “software-defined” solutions, says Christoffer Niemi, IT architect at LKAB.
The choice fell on Nutanix largely because LKAB had already had a taste of their solution from the previous testing environment with several Nutanix nodes.
– We started early in 2013 with a software-defined data center and saw the upside of it. We felt that Nutanix was a reliable solution since we had been using it for quite some time. We trust that it works in operation while meeting our requirements at a favorable price, he continues.
Intelligence Lies in the Software
Hyper-converged infrastructure represents a new way of thinking about data centers. Instead of having costly, custom-built hardware managing various parts of a data center, the technology is software-defined, meaning functionality runs on programs on a server. This makes it easier to adapt equipment to growing needs and expand with so-called nodes.
– The hardware consists of standard “off-the-shelf” components. The software is where the intelligence lies, says Johan Tungström.
The significant difference for LKAB compared to the previous solution is primarily two things: simpler administration and increased flexibility.
– Prism Pro is a very good management interface with a “1-click” approach. Setting up new servers is very smooth, and it’s easy to follow up and monitor the system’s health. You can see in good time when changes are needed before problems arise, says Rory Wikman.
With better insight into the system, it is also easier to plan for the resources that will be needed in the future.
– In the interface, you can see your run rate over time and how much resources you consume in terms of RAM, CPU, and so on. Based on your history, the system can make intelligent planning, says Johan Tungström.
Less Space in the Server Room
Just before the summer of 2017, the agreement for the new data center was finalized, and at the end of July, NetNordic delivered the hardware to LKAB; a combination of Nutanix, Rubrik for backup, and Zerto for disaster recovery. Physically, the new solution made a significant difference: the previous two Vblocks weighed 1500 kilos each, which required the floor in the data hall to be rebuilt. The new hardware from Nutanix and Rubrik consists of only two half racks, which is both cheaper and better for the environment.
– This means that the space in the data center is reduced, and the equipment consumes less power and requires less cooling, says Johan Tungström.
After the installation of the hardware, they reached the critical part: the migration. When the previous IT environment was installed, the migration took ten weeks. With a business operating 365 days a year, where a day of mining generates ore equivalent to six Eiffel Towers in steel, any downtime has a significant economic impact. Now, the migration was completed in just under four weeks.
– They packaged ten different migrations with applications and servers. Only when the high-priority applications were to be migrated did they need to inform the business; the rest went smoothly. Office applications, for example, could be done after office hours, explains Kerstin Rönnberg, change manager responsible for the deployments.
– The most critical system is the mine’s access control system. It monitors who is in the mine and where. If it goes down, we cannot carry out our blasting safely, and a halted blast is worth tens of millions of kronor, says Kerstin Rönnberg.
Planning Key to Successful Project
Despite LKAB switching to a completely new architecture and carrying out the change during full operation, the project went almost entirely smoothly.
– It was one of the better IT infrastructure projects we’ve undertaken. We migrated 358 servers, practically without disruption, and adhered to the timeline with a good margin. The business barely noticed that we changed both of our data centers, so it’s a real success, says Jonas Esko.
One of the success factors was thorough planning
With the new IT environment in place, LKAB can explore new opportunities to provide IT support to its operations, especially as new technologies like AI and the Internet of Things are on the horizon.
– All relevant resources were in place, and I was involved well in advance. Not all projects go this well, says Kerstin Rönnberg.
Johan Tungström involved the relevant parts of the organization effectively and had a good dialogue with our change managers. It was evident that he had worked as a project manager before.