SERAPID

Modernizes its Backup Foundation and Strengthens its Resilience Thanks to Scality

SERAPID Group has been engineering linear motion transfer systems for over 50 years, earning a reputation of excellence and becoming the worldwide leader in Rigid Chain Technology. With a strong international presence, SERAPID is the most trusted name in linear motion technology and heavy loads movement.

Challenges

Replacing tapes, gaining security, and finally making operations “manageable”

SERAPID, an industrial company based near Dieppe and recognized for its heavy load lifting and transfer solutions, initiated a comprehensive infrastructure renewal project.

The stakes were not about “changing for the sake of changing,” but exiting a backup model that had become constraining: an infrastructure nearly seven years old, relying on tapes, with heavy daily management, which was even more penalizing when the team was not permanently on-site and access to server rooms could not be expanded to everyone.

In the same move, SERAPID sought to reach a new milestone: integrating immutable backup to reinforce resilience and meet security requirements (frameworks and best practices, including those promoted by ANSSI in the ecosystem).

HIGHLIGHTS

Challenges

Replace a backup infrastructure that has reached the end of its cycle (around 7 years) and secure the overall modernization of the infrastructure.
Eliminate the operational constraint related to tapes (daily management, limited access to server rooms, dependency on “on-site”).
Implement an immutable backup to raise the level of resilience against threats (including ransomware) and meet security requirements.
Have an approach allowing the outsourcing of backups within a standardized and auditable framework.

Solution

Adoption of Scality as an object storage brick supporting immutability, integrated into the infrastructure renewal project, while retaining the existing backup solution on the software side for business continuity.
Deployment and support provided by the partner Cheops Technology, from installation to ramping up (configuration, best practices, adjustments).
Progressive implementation: rapid installation, then optimization of retention/immutability parameters until stabilization.

Results

Deployment deemed very rapid (virtually ready “in less than half a day” after installation).
Simplified operations: elimination of tape management and centralization of backup monitoring.
Time savings: moving from around 1 to 2 hours/month of management to ~15 minutes of verification/supervision.
Reliability validated by successful restoration tests; operational immutability.
Initial point of attention managed: a configuration setting led to a rapid increase in volume (= 90% in less than two months), resolved by correction and adherence to immutability timeframes.

Solution

Object storage and immutability: an option deemed “robust,” provided one is well supported

During the study, several alternatives were considered: continuation/renewal on tape, so-called immutable solutions based on a “classic” Linux environment, and options oriented toward object storage.

Introduced by partner Cheops Technology, the Scality solution was selected for the main site in France, with a clear logic: robustness, alignment with the expected evolution of the security level, and the relevance of the object mode to implement immutability and consider outsourcing that meets standards and audit constraints.

A rapid implementation… followed by managed optimization

The deployment was carried out in April (year N-1). Once the servers were in place, integrating the storage portion for backups was quick, with a gradual skills acquisition throughout the installation.

The adjustment phase (on the order of one to two months) mainly consisted of fine-tuning the parameters to achieve optimal operations, stabilized starting in September.

A mishap played the role of a “useful reminder”: an initial configuration setting caused a very rapid load increase, almost reaching 90% capacity in less than two months. The situation was corrected by adjusting the configuration and then respecting the delays induced by immutability, until returning to a coherent level.

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“The apparent simplicity of deployment should not obscure the scoping and configuration work required beforehand. This is precisely where the support of a partner who masters the solution makes the difference.”

Xavier GRENIER

Information Systems Manager, SERAPID

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“A robust solution that is simple to set up, provided you are well supported, which meets our security requirements.”

Xavier GRENIER

Information Systems Manager, SERAPID

Results

Simplified operations, validated restorations, and time “given back” to the teams

With less than a year of hindsight, SERAPID notes a very concrete initial result: backups work, and restoration tests confirm operational reliability. Above all, immutability—the core of the initial need—is in place and delivers the expected level of security.

On the operational level, the break is sharp: the disappearance of tape management transforms daily life. Where operations used to represent about 1 to 2 hours per month (management, manipulations, access constraints), it is now reduced to ~15 minutes of control and supervision (checking job status, tracking volume via dedicated supervision).

Beyond time, SERAPID highlights a governance benefit: a single source to know “where the backup stands,” fewer uncertainties about actions taken, and better traceability.