Client Overview:
A large enterprise required a complete data center and disaster recovery (DR) infrastructure upgrade to modernize its compute environment, improve scalability, and support mission-critical workloads. The objective was to deploy new blade servers, streamline configurations, and implement a robust virtualization platform without impacting ongoing operations.
The Challenges
The environment presented multiple technical and operational complexities:
- Multi-site deployment across primary and DR locations
- Large-scale hardware installation involving multiple chassis and blade servers
- Licensing issues impacting existing fabric interconnects
- Outdated firmware and inconsistent service profiles
- Need for zero downtime during migration and deployment
- Requirement for standardized virtualization across all hosts
Solutions
GlobalXperts delivered an end-to-end UCS deployment and virtualization implementation using a structured and controlled execution plan:
- Performed rack and stack of 4 UCS chassis and 32 blade servers across DC and DR sites
- Resolved licensing issues and installed valid licenses with Cisco TAC coordination
- Upgraded firmware on both sites to version 4.0(41)
- Rebuilt and standardized Service Profile templates
- Configured networking and correctly created vNIC templates
- Associated service profiles to new blade servers
- Installed ESXi 7.0 on all 32 B200 M5 servers with zero downtime
- Deployed vCenter 7.0 and applied vSphere licensing across all hosts
This phased approach ensured seamless integration and uninterrupted business operations.
Results
- Fully modernized and standardized UCS infrastructure
- Zero downtime during deployment and migration
- Improved compute performance and scalability
- Simplified management through centralized virtualization
- Stable and resilient DR-ready environment
- Faster provisioning of workloads and services
The organization now benefits from a highly available, scalable, and future-ready virtualization platform.