West 4th Strategy

UNIX/Linux Migration Consultant

Brooklyn, NY
Full Time
Experienced
UNIX/Linux Migration Consultant
ROLE
We need an experienced UNIX/Linux Migration Consultant at the New York City Department of Social Services (DSS). DSS enhances the quality of life for all New Yorkers by providing temporary assistance to eligible individuals and families with social service and economic needs, supported by IT Services (ITS) which operates the critical technology infrastructure behind the agency’s programs. DSS is currently executing a large-scale Data Center Co-location and Migration Project to consolidate multiple data centers into a new facility at 11 MetroTech in Brooklyn, replacing end-of-life infrastructure and mitigating risk of service disruption to agency operations. In this role, you will migrate Solaris and AIX workloads to AIX 7.3, RHEL 9, and OpenShift container platforms, including the critical POS application migration from Solaris 11 to an Oracle ASM-based 8-node AIX 7.3 cluster, while preserving all filesystems, applications, service definitions, cron jobs, and system-level integrations across legacy and modern platforms. This is a full-time opportunity. We can offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package.

RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Focus Area: Migration of Solaris and AIX workloads to AIX 7.3, RHEL 9, and container platforms (OpenShift 4.12+)
  • Migrate all Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 Global and Non-Global Zones (both branded and native) to target platforms including AIX 7.2/7.3 LPARs, RHEL 7/8/9 systems, and containerized environments. The effort includes full hosting of the operating system environment, encompassing all filesystems, applications, startup configurations, service definitions, cron jobs, user accounts, and system-level integrations. Special consideration must be given to the technical complexity of transitioning from SPARC hardware and Solaris services to IBM Power10-based AIX platforms or container-native platforms. The consultant must handle translation of OS-level constructs and ensure seamless continuation of legacy workloads, while also accommodating modern security and performance standards.
  • Note: The most critical application, POS, is being migrated from Solaris 11 to AIX 7.3. This POS system currently operates in a clustered environment using Veritas SFRAC and will be platformed to an Oracle ASM-based 8-node AIX 7.3 cluster. This transition involves significant engineering effort due to the complexity of Veritas CFS and GAB/LLT clustering mechanisms, Oracle database storage layout transformation, kernel tuning, and the requirement to establish Oracle RAC connectivity, ASM disk groups, CRS startup dependencies, and HA agent configurations in the new AIX environment. Data integrity, uptime sensitivity, and strict RPO/RTO requirements make this a highly demanding component of migration.
  • High-Level Steps:
    • Identify and catalog legacy Solaris systems including Logical Domains (LDOMs), Zones, and Standalone systems. Include underlying hardware platforms, networking, and application footprint.
    • Evaluate all running applications, services, and system configurations. Determine which components can be directly ported, which require transformation, and which must be architected for containers or AIX. Develop architecting based on findings.
    • Prepare target environments (AIX LPARs, RHEL VMs, or OpenShift containers), ensuring resource provisioning, compatible disk layouts, IP planning, and authentication integrations are established.
    • Develop a cutover strategy for file systems, application binaries, cron jobs, and middleware stack. Account for environment variables, shell behavior, and dependent services.
    • Conduct post-migration validation, service checkouts, log audits, user verification, and job testing to ensure parity with legacy system behavior.
  • Technical Migration Tasks:
    • Migrate Solaris Logical Domains (LDOMs) hosted on SPARC platforms to AIX 7.3 LPARs and RHEL 8/9 systems. Preserve disk partitions, IP schema, system boot behavior, hostname, and service daemons.
    • Host Solaris-based applications (such as Oracle tools, Apache web services, and in-house binaries) onto AIX or RHEL 9. Convert SMF and init-based service definitions, manage libraries, and ensure equivalent OS services are present or adapted.
    • Transition AIX Logical Partitions (LPARs) to AIX 7.3 LPARs. Build the execution environment including chroot-style partitions, filesystems, local users, and hostname settings.
    • Migrate standalone AIX 6.1/7.1 systems to AIX 7.3 on IBM Power10. Carefully preserve legacy device mappings, exports and automount behaviors, custom binaries, job scheduling frameworks, and performance tuning profiles.
    • Transform Solaris-based services into OCI-compliant containers. Extract functional units such as web services or monitoring agents, containerize them using standardized tools, and stage for OpenShift deployment.
    • Host existing containerized workloads into OpenShift 4.12+ environments. Create containers build pipelines, CI/CD hooks, and define deployments using YAML manifests.
    • Move essential system services—cron jobs, SFTP/FTP daemons, logging agents—from Solaris and AIX platforms to RHEL 9 or OpenShift containers.
    • Migrate middleware applications from legacy Solaris and AIX systems to modern platforms. Handle application stack validation including configuration files, environment variables, system libraries, and startup control mechanisms.
    • Convert Solaris ZFS/UFS file systems into JFS2 (for AIX) or XFS/LVM (for RHEL).
    • Transfer to user environments and authentication mechanisms. Export and create user definitions, SSH key associations, sudo policies, group memberships, and PAM modules on new platforms.
    • Port and validate all custom shell and automation scripts.
    • Convert Solaris SMF and init.d services to RHEL systemd unit files or equivalent AIX startup services.
    • Deploy backup software clients, transitioning systems from legacy NetBackup to Commvault where applicable.
    • Migrate system logging configurations to modern standards (journald, rsyslog) from legacy syslog-based systems.
    • Validate that all applications and services operate identically.
    • Reconnect shared file systems and mounts such as NFS and CIFS.
    • Migrate POS application stack from Solaris 11 and Veritas SFRAC to AIX 7.3 using Oracle ASM in an 8-node clustered setup. Migration includes building the HA environment with Oracle Grid Infrastructure, configuring Oracle ASM with appropriate disk groups and redundancy, integrating the Oracle RAC database cluster, and validating listener, TNS, and SCAN configurations.
    • Conduct comprehensive validation and operational certification of the POS environment following migration.
    • Perform equivalent migration of the Oracle Data Guard standby environment supporting POS.
    • Execute full validation of the standby POS Data Guard configuration including recovery test cycles, Redo Apply verification, failover simulation, switchover readiness checks, and full DR testing.

REQUIRED SKILLS/EXPERIENCE
  • 4 years' experience in planning and executing UNIX server migrations, including Develop a cutover strategy for file systems, application binaries, cron jobs, and middleware stack. Account for environment variables, shell behavior, and dependent services.
  • 4 years' experience in designing and implementing high availability and disaster recovery for server infrastructure
  • 4 years' experience managing migration planning activities including stakeholder coordination, scope definition, reporting requirements, risk mitigation, and change management within enterprise data center projects.
  • 4 years' experience providing post-migration stabilization and Hyper Care support, including performance troubleshooting, interdependency validation, and resolution of server issues.
  • 4 years' experience configuring and troubleshooting AIX, Linux, and Solaris servers

EDUCATION / CERTIFICATIONS
  • Bachelor’s degree in a related field – preferred

LOCATION
  • Brooklyn, NY

CLIENT
  • NYC Department of Social Services

WORK AUTHORIZATION
  • Must be legally entitled to work in the United States

TRAVEL
  • No travel required.

WORK HOURS
  • 8 hours per day. 1 unpaid hour for lunch

EMPLOYMENT CLASSIFICATION
  • W2 Hourly

RELOCATION
  • Not eligible for relocation benefits.

COMPENSATION
  • Compensation Range: $65.93 - $90.66/hr commensurate on experience
  • Benefits: Benefits package includes options for health, dental, and vision insurance coverage; 401k contribution options; paid sick time

West 4th Strategy is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, age, marital status, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, pregnancy, political affiliation, military or veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by federal or state law.

Other Considerations: applicants will be subject to a background investigation. Individual’s primary workstation is in an office area. The noise level in this environment is low to moderate. Regularly required to sit for extended periods up to 80% of the time; frequently required to move about to access file cabinets and use office equipment such as PC, copier, fax, telephone, cell phone, etc. Occasionally required to reach overhead, bend, and lift objects of up to 10 lbs. Specific vision abilities required by this job include the use of computer monitor screens up to 80% of the time.
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