Consolidating 200 Virtual Machines in the Cloud

In Brief

Resource Data successfully migrated a large telecommunication company’s computing workload from two outdated virtual clouds to a single new cloud while consolidating 200 virtual machines (VMs). The process involved designing, testing, and executing dual migration and upgrade processes in sections, ensuring minimal downtime. With extensive planning, all the VMs migrated within their outage window, resulting in a new level of efficiency and reliability for the client’s new cloud infrastructure.

Challenge

A large telecommunications company faced the complex task of transferring a significant computing workload from two aging virtual clouds to a new one, while also physically consolidating VMs from one part of the city to another. Additionally, the client required Resource Data to configure advanced resiliency and efficiency features on the new cloud to maximize benefits.

Solution

Resource Data moved approximately 30 percent of the client’s computing workload, designing and executing dual migration and upgrade processes over 75 times without failure. Automation was introduced over a period of four months, reducing the effort needed to migrate and upgrade each VM by 50 percent. The new vSphere 5.1 cloud was analyzed for improvements in resiliency and efficiency, with significant enhancements implemented, including improved network access for over 200 VMs without disrupting business operations.

Approach

During the VM consolidation planning phase, Resource Data collaborated with the client’s staff to plan and test the migration process. Together with our client’s Project Managers, we coordinated a series of outage windows with application owners. Technical staff on both sides worked to ensure that each VM hit its target within the allotted time. The process worked so well that no VM failed to migrate and each one completed its migration within its outage window.

The successful execution of the migration was supported by:

A thorough review of the vSphere 5.1 cloud
Presentation of recommendations to the client’s project sponsors
Implementation of High Availability and Dynamic Resource Scheduling enhancements
Configuration of distributed networking

Throughout the project, the client experienced no productivity loss and achieved a new level of efficiency and reliability through their upgraded cloud infrastructure.