DataPower Migration Consultant

Title :

Lead DataPower Migration Consultant /

Architect Duration :

3

Months Location:

Remote in MI but require travel weekly 2-3 days to Auburn Hills MI. Project Overview We are seeking an experienced DataPower Migration Consultant / Architect to lead the end-to-end upgrade and physical migration of 11 DataPower appliances across Development, QA, Production, and Disaster Recovery (DR) environments. The migration strategy leverages a Secure Backup & Restore (Lift & Shift) methodology, reusing the existing IP strategy, topology, and data center footprint. The total estimated project effort is 1,559 hours, spanning assessment through to a 2-week post-production hypercare support window. Key Responsibilities 1. Assessment & Planning Perform a comprehensive inventory of existing application domains, services, cryptography artifacts, and security certificates. Validate target firmware levels, review High Availability (HA) topologies, and identify potential migration risks. Author and maintain detailed technical migration runbooks and architectural documentation. 2. Infrastructure Setup & Base Configuration Coordinate the physical "rack and stack" installation, including power, network cabling, console connectivity, and initial firmware installation. Configure base appliance settings, including management interfaces, secondary interface IP reuse, VLANs, NTP, DNS, SNMP, and Syslog. Implement and validate Role-Based Management (RBM), access controls, and appliance security hardening. 3. Migration Execution & Validation Execute the Secure Backup & Restore procedure to migrate service configurations efficiently across identical topologies. Reconfigure and optimize High Availability (HA) clusters and validate Disaster Recovery (DR) failover mechanisms. Partner with networking teams to test and validate firewall configurations and Load Balancer integrations. 4. Testing, Cutover, & Hypercare Lead validation efforts across System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and dedicated DR testing phases. Plan and execute the production cutover strategy during designated maintenance windows. Provide dedicated, high-touch Hypercare support (2 weeks) post-production to ensure environment stability.

Required Technical Skills & Qualifications IBM DataPower Expertise:

Deep, hands-on experience administering, configuring, and upgrading physical IBM DataPower appliances.

Migration Strategy:

Proven track record with DataPower Secure Backup & Restore methodologies and firmware lifecycle management.

Networking & Security:

Strong understanding of network topology, IP routing/reuse strategies, VLAN configurations, and load balancing.

Appliance Hardening:

Expertise in DataPower security, including crypto objects, certificate management, RBM, and access control validation.

Enterprise Operations:

Familiarity with data center protocols (NTP, DNS, SNMP, Syslog) and clustering for HA/DR environments.

Project Logistics & Duration Total Estimated Project Effort:

~1,559

Hours Location:

Remote / On-Site (Requires data center coordination for physical hardware validation and cabling phases).