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///800+ VM Migration

Case Study

800+ VM
Secure Migration

How Mentat helped an undisclosed government agency migrate over 800 virtual machines from failing end-of-life hardware into a new automated and orchestrated environment with stringent security requirements

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The Challenge

Migrating 800+ VMs under intense time and compliance pressure

The agency had virtually no time to refactor applications before migration and faced an urgent deadline to vacate its legacy data center.

The existing environment had no meaningful automation, no replication capabilities in place before migration, and aging end-of-life hardware.

Many applications allowed for little downtime, which raised the delivery risk for any large-scale migration or cutover approach.

The target environment also had difficult security and compliance requirements, including CMCC, NIST, ITAR, and ISO-aligned controls.

Our Solutions

Large Azure Government Deployment

Mentat designed, developed, deployed, and managed a large Azure Government environment sized to support the migration and meet stringent CJIS-driven security requirements.

High-Speed Connectivity

Multiple zero-trust virtual networks were connected through a 100GB ExpressRoute pipe, with micro-segmentation between subnets to tightly control east-west traffic during and after migration.

Secure Network Controls

Check Point firewalls were deployed into Azure Scale Sets to manage north-south traffic and enforce security boundaries in the new environment.

Automation & Orchestration

Mentat implemented Jenkins, Terraform, PowerShell, PowerCLI, and Ansible-based workflows to provision, configure, and migrate services with repeatability and stronger operational control.

Technologies Used

Virtualization, migration, and secure automation stack

A delivery stack spanning VMware migration tooling, orchestration, scripting, and security-focused cloud controls.

800+

Virtual machines migrated

Minimal downtime

Cutover objective

Compliance-led

CMCC, NIST, ITAR, ISO

Migration foundation

The program combined VMware replication and migration tooling with scripted orchestration to move large workloads into a more controlled target state.

Virtualization & Migration

VMware vSphere (vCenter and ESXi)VMware vRepSRMCommvault

Automation Tooling

JenkinsPowerCLIAnsibleTerraformPowerShell

Cloud & Security

Azure GovernmentAzure Scale SetsExpressRouteCheck Point firewallsZero-trust segmentation

The Results

Secure migration outcomes without major disruption

Mentat helped the agency modernize a failing environment, protect data integrity, and land workloads in a more governable and compliant operating model.

From failing hardware to secure orchestrated infrastructure

Integrity outcome

Zero

Zero data corruption during migration

The migration program preserved data integrity while moving hundreds of virtual machines into the new environment.

Availability outcome

Minimal

Minimal application downtime

Critical workloads were migrated with tight cutover windows to limit business disruption.

Validation outcome

Verified

All applications tested and approved by owners

Post-migration validation confirmed application functionality and supported formal owner signoff.

Operations outcome

Modernized

Inherited modern tagging and automation strategy

Migrated virtual machines were brought into a more consistent operational model through automation and standardized tagging.

Compliance outcome

Compliant

Target data center configured with policy-driven controls

Configuration-as-code practices helped align the new environment to the required compliance posture.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about the 800+ VM migration

Why did the agency need to migrate more than 800 virtual machines?

The agency faced an urgent deadline to vacate a legacy data center running aging end-of-life hardware, with little time to refactor applications and with stringent target-environment controls spanning CMCC, NIST, ITAR, and ISO-aligned requirements.

How did Mentat migrate the VMs into Azure Government?

Mentat combined VMware replication and migration tooling with Jenkins, Terraform, PowerShell, PowerCLI, and Ansible orchestration inside a large Azure Government landing zone that used zero-trust VNets, ExpressRoute connectivity, and Check Point firewalls in Scale Sets.

What migration outcomes were published for the 800-plus VM program?

Published outcomes include zero data corruption, minimal application downtime, applications tested and approved by owners, inherited tagging and automation in the new estate, and a target data center configured with policy-driven controls. Details: https://www.mentat.cloud/case-studies/secure-vm-migration-800.

Modernize securely. Migrate with confidence.

Mentat helps government agencies modernize legacy environments, automate at scale, and meet the highest security standards.

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