Moving The Grace Hotel's core systems onto a new server
A hotel never closes, so its servers can't either. The Grace Hotel's door locks, guest systems and network all depended on an ageing VMware host that needed replacing.
Friendlyware supplied and installed a new HPE server running Microsoft Hyper-V. We then moved all eight of the hotel's virtual servers across one at a time, live, while the hotel kept running.
The Grace Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel in the heart of Sydney's CBD.
Client Spotlight
The Problem
The hotel's critical systems ran as virtual servers on a single VMware host. These included the domain controller, the door lock system, guest service interfaces and the staff intranet.
The host was due for replacement, and moving off VMware was part of the plan. Any outage could leave guests unable to get into their rooms or staff unable to check people in.
The Challenge
No downtime window: A 24/7 hotel has no quiet weekend to switch systems over, so each server had to move with minimal interruption.
Specialist hotel systems: The door lock server talks to the locks over a dedicated wireless network and needed custom network and security settings to work on the new platform.
Older servers: Some virtual servers were built on older standards that don't move cleanly to Hyper-V and needed extra preparation.
The domain controller: Migrating the server that controls every login is the riskiest step. Its recovery password had been lost, so we had to reset it before we could continue.
Hardware issues: The new server arrived with a faulty memory slot, which needed a warranty replacement before the migration could start.
The Solution
We worked alongside the hotel's in-house IT contact throughout, so the team understood each step and could support the new platform afterwards.
New hardware: We built and installed an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11 server running Windows Server 2025 and Hyper-V, with an extra network card to match the hotel's network layout and additional memory.
Test runs first: Before touching anything live, we ran trial migrations as offline copies to prove the process worked.
Live, one-by-one migration: We moved each of the eight servers using backup-based restores. Each server kept running until its copy was ready, keeping the switchover short. A fresh backup chain was set up for each server as it moved.
Door locks and wireless: We worked with the lock system vendor to configure custom networking and security for the lock server, then tested the switchover of its wireless network.
Domain controller: Once the recovery password was reset, we migrated the domain controller and checked every service and file share.
Clean-up: We cleared out old backup chains and installed a new firewall analytics server to finish the project.
Outcome
All eight of The Grace Hotel's servers now run on modern, warranty-backed hardware under Microsoft Hyper-V. The hotel kept operating throughout the migration.
The hotel is now off VMware, every server has a fresh backup chain, and the domain controller's recovery password is known and documented. The project was completed in March 2026.
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