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Revamped networks for a European energy company

A leading European energy company seeks a partner for a successful network overhaul (comprising NSX-V instances across two data centers for an overlay requirement) to enhance user experience.
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5 min read
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Overview

Revolutionizing energy networks for superior user engagement

Our client is a leading European energy company that develops oil, gas, wind and solar energy projects. It is primarily a petroleum company with a significant focus on offshore operations and exploration services. Its network infrastructure comprises NSX-V instances running across two data centers for an overlay requirement. To improve its end-user experience, they sought a strategic partner to help them embark on a successful network transformation journey.

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The Challenge

Holistic data center transformation and zero-downtime migration strategy

  • Our client was looking for a robust network infrastructure and to move from legacy to modernized data centers (DCs).
  • Apart from DC migration, they wanted to minimize application downtime during the migration, while retaining the existing architecture.
  • Additionally, they have a very strict requirement for hardware compatibility with NSX-T data center, vSphere stack compatibility with NSX-T, firewall constructs and NSX-T rules compatibility.
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The Objective

Innovative infrastructure overhaul

  • Modernize network infrastructure from legacy to NSX-T data centers.
  • Minimize application downtime during migration.
  • Ensure hardware compatibility with NSX-T and Sphere stack.
  • Migrate from NSX-V to NSX-T due to end-of-life concerns.
  • Enhance network visibility and troubleshooting capabilities.
  • Enable support for multiple hypervisors and diverse workloads.
  • Strengthen security with distributed IPS/IDS capabilities.
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The Solution

Enhanced infrastructure: HCLTech’s NSX-V to NSX-T migration journey

  • HCLTech helped our client with a migration plan for its existing NSX-V, which was at its end of life (EOD)/end of support (EOS).
  • To enable seamless DC modernization, HCLTech implemented an NSX-T data center. A test environment was created to simulate the migration process before the actual migration.
  • Using NSX migration coordinator with the in-place migration methodology, we successfully migrated NSX-V to NSX-T infra. During this phase, approximately 900 VMs and 4,000 firewall rules were migrated.
  • HCLTech also replaced Network Interface Cards (NIC) to support GENEVE protocol for NSX-T.
  • Lastly, we upgraded the vSphere stack to support the latest NSX-T architectures and modified NSX groups and rules in NSX-V to support the migration process to NSX-T.
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The Impact

Elevated network visibility and expanded workload compatibility

  • Achieved an enhanced view of network topology for better visibility and troubleshooting.
  • Ensured support for multiple hypervisors for future use, as and when required.
  • Provided support for different types of workloads, such as containers, bare metal and public cloud workloads, that were absent in the earlier environment.
  • Enhanced security capabilities with distributed IPS/IDS to be used in the future.