Client Overview
A medium-sized insurance claims processing organization operates with approximately 20 hosts and over 350 virtual machines in their VMware-based on-premises virtualization environment. With a crucial role in handling insurance claims, their IT infrastructure requires high reliability, scalability, and cost-efficiency to support their operations effectively.
The Challenge
The client faced a critical decision point with their virtualization strategy. Their existing VMware licensing was approaching renewal, but with Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, they were confronted with:
- A staggering 400% price increase for license renewal
- Transition to a subscription-based licensing model
- Uncertainty about VMware/Broadcom's long-term roadmap and support quality
- Concerns about future innovation under new ownership
The CloudOps Lead recognized these challenges as an opportunity to reevaluate their virtualization strategy and explore more cost-effective alternatives that would still provide enterprise-grade capabilities.
The Solution
Shadow-Soft proposed a comprehensive migration from VMware to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. This approach would:
- Eliminate dependency on VMware/Broadcom
- Provide a modern, container-based virtualization platform
- Leverage the client's existing Pure Storage infrastructure
- Deliver significant cost savings, especially for Red Hat Enterprise Linux workloads
- Offer a pathway to future cloud-native application development
The engagement started with a pilot focused on a small-scale OpenShift deployment to validate the solution's viability before committing to full migration of their 350+ virtual machines by year-end.
Implementation Process
Phase 1: OpenShift Deployment Design & Architecture
- Evaluated Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription options to determine the most cost-effective licensing model
- Conducted thorough assessment of hardware and infrastructure requirements
- Analyzed current capacity and developed capacity planning for OpenShift deployment
- Created cluster sizing and growth plan aligned with business objectives
- Assessed application requirements to establish metrics for environment scenarios
Phase 2: OpenShift Infrastructure Installation
- Deployed a 3-node bare metal OpenShift 4.15 cluster with mixed control/worker nodes
- Implemented core OpenShift infrastructure services for enterprise-grade reliability
- Integrated Portworx storage solution to support RWX (ReadWriteMany) volumes for virtualized workloads
- Enabled OpenShift virtualization capabilities to support VM workloads
- Verified compatibility with the client's existing Pure Storage array (version 6.3/6.5)
Phase 3: Virtualization Workload Migration
- Leveraged OpenShift MTV to migrate 5 initial virtual machines from VMware
- Demonstrated live migration capabilities of virtual machines within the cluster
- Performed an upgrade to OpenShift 4.16 to showcase seamless upgrade processes
- Conducted knowledge transfer sessions to build client team expertise
- Developed documentation including best practices and operational guidance
Key Features
- Modern container-based virtualization platform capable of supporting both traditional VMs and containers
- Seamless migration path from VMware to OpenShift virtualization
- Integration with existing Pure Storage infrastructure
- Free Red Hat Enterprise Linux workload licensing when running on OpenShift
- Built-in high availability and live migration capabilities
- Scalable infrastructure that can grow with business needs
- Path to modernization beyond pure virtualization
Tools Used
- Red Hat OpenShift 4.15 and 4.16
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- OpenShift Virtualization
- OpenShift MTV (Migration Toolkit for Virtualization)
- Portworx storage for container-native persistent storage
- Pure Storage integration
Results
The proof of concept successfully demonstrated that Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization could meet the client's virtualization needs while delivering substantial benefits:
- Avoided the 400% price increase from VMware/Broadcom licensing
- Established a clear migration path for all 350+ virtual machines
- Reduced licensing costs for RHEL workloads running on OpenShift
- Gained independence from VMware/Broadcom's uncertain roadmap
- Improved operational capabilities with modern containerization tools
- Built internal expertise through mentorship and knowledge transfer
- Created foundation for future application modernization initiatives
With the successful pilot complete, the client is now proceeding with the full migration of their virtualization environment to OpenShift, aiming to complete the transition by year-end, well ahead of their VMware license expiration.