Hyper-V Cluster Migration & VxRail Upgrade

Dell PowerStore Storage, Juniper QFX Networking, and Microsoft Hyper-V Infrastructure Upgrade for Local Maryland College

The Challenge: Unsupported VMware Infrastructure and Escalating vSAN Costs

This local Maryland college needed to modernize its aging VMware infrastructure while reducing recurring operational expenses and maintaining uninterrupted access to mission-critical applications. The existing VMware vSphere and vSAN environment had reached end of support, increasing security and operational risks while limiting the college’s ability to scale efficiently.

At the same time, VMware’s evolving licensing model had dramatically increased the cost of maintaining vSAN as the college’s shared storage platform. The college needed a more cost-effective and modular virtualization architecture that could support future growth without the financial overhead associated with the legacy VMware environment.

The college also wanted to simplify infrastructure management, reduce the number of deployed processor cores, and improve long-term flexibility while preserving as much of the existing network investment as possible. Migrating production workloads away from the VMware VxRail environment required careful planning to minimize downtime and maintain operational continuity throughout the transition.

To address these challenges, the college partnered with Data Networks to execute a comprehensive Hyper-V cluster migration designed to modernize compute, storage, and networking infrastructure while significantly reducing long-term virtualization costs.

The Solution: Hyper-V Cluster Migration with Dell PowerStore and Juniper QFX Switching

Data Networks designed and deployed a modern Microsoft Hyper-V cluster environment to replace the college’s legacy VMware vSphere and vSAN platform.

The new infrastructure included three (3) Dell PowerEdge R660 Hyper-V host servers running Microsoft Windows Server 2022. Shared storage for the environment was provided through a new Dell PowerStore 500T SAN, delivering scalable enterprise storage performance while eliminating reliance on VMware vSAN licensing.

To support both LAN and SAN traffic, Data Networks deployed two (2) Juniper QFX-5120 switches configured as redundant aggregation switches for the environment. The switches were integrated into the college’s existing Juniper core infrastructure using redundant Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) to provide resilient connectivity, redundancy, and optimized traffic flow across the data center environment.

As part of the Hyper-V cluster migration, Data Networks configured VLAN segmentation for storage, management, and production VM traffic while implementing ACLs and redundancy policies to improve security and availability. The team also validated throughput, latency, and failover performance across all uplinks and network paths.

The project included deployment of Windows Admin Center integrated with Dell OpenManage, providing centralized administration, hardware monitoring, and lifecycle management for the new Hyper-V infrastructure.

A critical phase of the engagement focused on the conversion and migration of all production VMware virtual machines from the legacy VxRail cluster into the new Hyper-V environment. Data Networks developed and tested migration workflows using non-critical workloads before executing staged production migrations to minimize disruption to business operations.

Following migration, all workloads were validated to confirm proper functionality, network connectivity, storage access, and application performance within the new Hyper-V cluster. Data Networks also integrated the college’s existing IDPA backup and replication platform into the environment to maintain business continuity and disaster recovery protection.

Once migration validation was complete, the legacy VMware VxRail infrastructure was successfully decommissioned, including the shutdown and removal of obsolete VMware components and network connections.

The Outcome: Reduced Costs and a Modernized Hyper-V Infrastructure

Through this Hyper-V cluster migration, the college now benefits from a modernized virtualization platform that delivers improved flexibility, scalability, and long-term operational efficiency while significantly reducing recurring virtualization licensing costs.

The combination of Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell PowerStore storage, and Juniper QFX networking provides enterprise-grade performance and resiliency while simplifying management and reducing infrastructure overhead. The modular architecture also gives the college greater flexibility for future expansion without the cost burdens associated with the previous VMware vSAN environment.

With centralized management through Windows Admin Center and Dell OpenManage, the college now has improved visibility and streamlined administration across compute, storage, and networking resources. Integrated backup and replication workflows further strengthen business continuity and disaster recovery readiness.

As a result, the college now operates a fully supported, highly scalable Hyper-V infrastructure optimized for performance, resiliency, and long-term cost control.

Tags: Hi-Ed, higher education, data center, datacenter