Michael T. DeWitt

System Administrator

IT Consultant

Sysadmin

Infrastructure Engineer

Network Administrator

Michael T. DeWitt

System Administrator

IT Consultant

Sysadmin

Infrastructure Engineer

Network Administrator

“The Big Shrink” – Making your infrastructure leaner, meaner, and virtually unrecognizable.

  • Project Title: Virtual Infrastructure Consolidation and Optimization
  • Client: (Confidential)
  • My Role: Infrastructure Engineer
  • Technologies Used: VMware, Hyper-V, Linux (Various Distributions), Microsoft Windows Server, PowerShell, datto RMM.

Objective: The primary goal of this project was to consolidate and optimize the client’s server infrastructure by migrating from physical servers to a virtualized environment. This included both Microsoft and Linux server environments. The project aimed to reduce hardware costs, improve system performance, and simplify management through the use of VMware and Hyper-V virtualization technologies.

Challenges Overcome: One of the significant challenges was ensuring minimal downtime during the migration process. This required meticulous planning and execution to move critical services from physical to virtual servers seamlessly. Additionally, performance tuning was necessary post-migration to ensure that virtualized environments met or exceeded the performance of the original physical servers.

Key Actions:

  1. Developed a detailed migration  plan, including backup strategies and roll-back procedures to mitigate risks.
  2. Used VMware and Hyper-V to create virtual environments and carefully migrated existing physical servers to these new virtual machines.
  3. Employed PowerShell scripting to automate repetitive tasks, such as the configuration of new virtual machines and deployment of patches.
  4. Configured network settings within the virtual environment to ensure security and optimal performance.
  5. Provided end-user support throughout the transition, ensuring that all stakeholders were adequately trained on the new system.

Results: Successfully migrated all designated physical servers to the virtual environment without any significant downtime. The virtualization resulted in a 30% reduction in hardware costs and a 25% improvement in system performance. The virtualized infrastructure also enabled easier management and faster provisioning of new services, leading to increased operational efficiency.

"The migration to a virtualized environment has transformed our IT operations. The improved performance and reduced costs have exceeded our expectations, and the transition was smooth thanks to the meticulous planning and execution by the team."
Dimitry S.
Director of Technological Studies