VMware Platform at Scale — 300+ Hosts, 4,000+ VMs
Designing and operating a multi-site private cloud for one of Saudi Arabia's largest financial institutions — from initial vSphere buildout to full NSX-T micro-segmentation, VMware Cloud Director multi-tenancy, and SRM-based DR.
Outcomes
Context
Alrajhi Bank operates one of the largest private cloud environments in the Kingdom. The infrastructure supports core banking systems, internal applications, subsidiaries, all with strict regulatory and availability requirements.
My role covered the full virtualisation stack: day-to-day operations, capacity planning, architecture reviews, new deployments, and incident response. The environment ran across a primary Riyadh DC and a DR site with automated failover via SRM.
Platform Architecture
Multi-site VMware private cloud with NSX-T overlay and SRM-based disaster recovery
Approach
The work fell into three broad areas:
- Platform Operations: Managing vSphere clusters, patching cycles, capacity tracking, and hardware lifecycle across VxRail nodes and standalone hosts. Introduced standardised runbooks to reduce MTTR for common incidents.
- Network Virtualisation (NSX-T): Designing and maintaining micro-segmentation policies, logical routing, and distributed firewall rules across production and DMZ zones. Worked closely with network security teams to align policies with regulatory requirements.
- Multi-tenancy (VMware Cloud Director): Configuring and managing VCD for subsidiary environments — provider VDCs, organisation VDCs, and vApp-level isolation — enabling self-service within guardrails.
SRM was used for DR orchestration, with regular DR drills to validate RPO/RTO commitments across primary and secondary sites.