Cloud Infrastructure Project

Author: Abdullah Bagishev
Year: 2024 - 2025 Subject: VMware SDDC, vMotion, HA, FT, & MDM

Overview

This project focuses on deploying a highly available virtualized cloud environment using VMware SDDC technologies. The setup ensures:
✅ Live VM Migration (vMotion)
✅ High Availability (HA) & Continuous Availability (FT)
✅ Centralized Storage with TrueNAS (iSCSI & Multipathing)
✅ Automated Resource Management (DRS)
✅ SSO & MDM (Microsoft Intune & Azure AD)

Architecture & Components

Hypervisor & Compute

• VMware ESXi (2 Hosts)
• vCenter Server (VCSA)
• VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
• VMware High Availability (HA)
• VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)

Storage & Networking

• TrueNAS – iSCSI Shared Storage for vMotion & HA
• Multipathing for iSCSI – Redundancy & Performance
• VMware Distributed Switch – Ensures smooth migration
• IP Address Plan

Security & Authentication

• SSO with Active Directory (On-Premises)
• Azure AD & Microsoft Intune (MDM for Cloud SSO)
• Security Groups & RBAC for VM Creators

Key Features & Configurations

1. Live Migration with vMotion

• Tech Used: VMware vMotion + Shared iSCSI Storage
• Purpose: Migrate VMs without downtime during maintenance.
• Setup:
  • Enabled vMotion on both ESXi hosts.
  • Connected ESXi hosts to TrueNAS via iSCSI for shared storage.
  • Used Distributed Switch to ensure consistent networking.
  • Verified with real-time VM migrations (Click –> Video Proof).

2. High Availability (HA)

• Tech Used: VMware HA Cluster
• Purpose: Automatically restart VMs if an ESXi host fails.
• Setup:
  • Created an HA Cluster in vCenter.
  • Configured iSCSI Storage + Distributed Switch to ensure failover.
  • Simulated host failure (Click –> Test Results).

3. Continuous Availability (FT - Fault Tolerance)

• Tech Used: VMware FT
• Purpose: Zero-downtime failover with a live copy of each VM.
• Setup:
  • Configured Fault Tolerance on critical VMs.
  • Enabled real-time state synchronization between ESXi hosts.
  • Verified instant VM switchover during host failure.

4. Dynamic Resource Scaling with DRS

• Tech Used: VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
• Purpose: Automatically balance VM load across ESXi hosts.
• Setup:
  • Configured Resource Pools for different clients.
  • Enabled Auto-Migration of VMs during high CPU/Memory usage.

5. Role-Based Access for VM Creators

• Tech Used: vCenter RBAC
• Purpose: Restrict VM creation to specific users.
• Setup:
  • Created a custom role “VM Creator”.
  • Assigned permissions for only VM creation & modification.
  • Tested with limited-access users (Click –> Video Demo).

6. Hybrid SSO: On-Premises & Cloud

• Tech Used: Active Directory (LDAP) + Azure AD (Intune)
• Purpose: Enable Single Sign-On (SSO) across Cloud & On-Premises.
• Setup:
  • Integrated vCenter with Active Directory (LDAP) to allow domain users to log in.
  • Attempted Azure AD Connect for linking on-prem AD with Entra ID (Azure AD), but lacked the necessary administrative permissions. The Entra ID environment was managed by my lecturer, so I couldn’t complete the full cloud SSO configuration.
  • Successfully verified local SSO, allowing domain users to authenticate in vCenter using their AD credentials.

7. Mobile Device Management (MDM) with Intune

• Tech Used: Microsoft Intune (Azure AD)
• Purpose: Deploy & manage software across domain-joined devices.
• Setup:
  • Configured MDM Policy for Windows clients.
  • Auto-installed Audacity via Intune (Click for Proof).
  • Forced domain login on Windows 11 clients (cloud-ap.be).

IP Addressing Plan

Video Demos

📌 vMotion Demonstration
📌 High Availability in Action
📌 Fault Tolerance Switchover
📌 MDM Auto-Install of Audacity

Note: Here we can see that VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) is successfully enabled for the virtual machine VM_ABD. The primary VM is actively running, while the secondary VM is synchronized in real-time on a separate ESXi host. This ensures continuous availability—if the primary host fails, the secondary VM will take over instantly with zero downtime.

Note: Here we can see that VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is successfully configured within the ResourcePool_Abdulla. This setup ensures automated resource management, dynamically balancing CPU and memory workloads across the cluster. The resource pool structure allows for segmentation of computing resources per client or workload, ensuring guaranteed allocations and optimal performance.

Note: Here we can see the user successfully authenticated and applied the MDM configuration policies via Microsoft Intune. The device U41-83 has been enrolled in cloud-ap.be, and both users (u41user01 & u41user02) have successfully passed the compliance checks. Additionally, the default domain for Microsoft Entra Tenant is correctly set to cloud-ap.be, ensuring seamless authentication and policy enforcement.