Overview
Storage Specialist (Dell PowerMax to IBM VTS Migration) Jobs in Johannesburg Metropolitan Area at Samaha Consulting
Title: Storage Specialist (Dell PowerMax to IBM VTS Migration)
Company: Samaha Consulting
Location: Johannesburg Metropolitan Area
Location : JHB
Contract duration : 12 months
Domain : Banking
Role Summary
The Storage Specialist will lead and support the migration of enterprise mainframe storage workloads from Dell EMC PowerMax (PMAX) infrastructure to IBM Virtual Tape System (VTS) and associated IBM storage technologies. The role requires expertise in enterprise storage architecture, mainframe storage operations, replication technologies, disaster recovery, performance optimization, and migration execution with minimal business disruption.
The specialist will work closely with mainframe platform teams, infrastructure architects, operations teams, and business stakeholders to design, implement, test, and transition storage services while maintaining regulatory, security, and operational standards.
Key Responsibilities
Storage Migration Planning & Execution
- Assess current Dell PMAX storage environments and dependencies.
- Develop migration strategies, runbooks, rollback plans, and cutover approaches.
- Lead storage discovery, capacity assessment, and migration readiness activities.
- Coordinate migration waves, testing cycles, dress rehearsals, and production cutovers.
- Ensure data integrity and reconciliation throughout migration activities.
IBM VTS Implementation
- Configure and administer IBM VTS infrastructure.
- Integrate IBM VTS with z/OS and enterprise backup/recovery solutions.
- Manage virtual tape libraries, tape pools, retention policies, and archival processes.
- Optimize virtual tape performance and resource utilization.
Mainframe Storage Administration
- Support IBM zSeries storage environments.
- Manage storage provisioning, allocation, and performance tuning.
- Configure and maintain FICON connectivity.
- Support disaster recovery and replication services.
Performance & Capacity Management
- Analyze storage utilization and forecast capacity requirements.
- Monitor storage KPIs and SLAs.
- Identify bottlenecks and implement optimization initiatives.
- Produce performance dashboards and operational reports.
Disaster Recovery & Resilience
- Support storage replication and failover strategies.
- Participate in DR testing and recovery exercises.
- Ensure storage solutions meet RTO/RPO requirements.
- Maintain business continuity documentation.
Governance & Documentation
- Develop architecture diagrams and operational procedures.
- Maintain configuration management records.
- Support audit, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
- Facilitate knowledge transfer to operations teams.
Required Technical Skills
Dell Technologies
- Dell EMC PowerMax (PMAX)
- Unisphere for PowerMax
- SRDF/A, SRDF/S
- SnapVX
- Storage replication technologies
- SAN administration
IBM Storage Technologies
- IBM Virtual Tape System (VTS)
- IBM TS7700 Series
- IBM DS8000 Storage
- IBM Storage Insights
- IBM Copy Services
- GDPS integration exposure
Mainframe Technologies
- IBM z/OS
- JCL
- DFSMS
- SMS Storage Management
- HSM
- RACF awareness
- FICON architecture
Data Protection & Recovery
- Backup and recovery technologies
- Storage replication
- Disaster recovery planning
- Business continuity processes
Monitoring & Operations
- OMEGAMON
- RMF
- MainView
- Enterprise monitoring platforms
Required Experience
- 8+ years in enterprise storage administration.
- 5+ years supporting IBM mainframe environments.
- Proven experience with Dell EMC PowerMax storage environments.
- Proven experience with IBM TS7700/VTS platforms.
- Experience executing large-scale storage migrations.
- Experience with production data center cutovers and DR exercises.
- Banking, financial services, or highly regulated industry experience preferred.
Desired Certifications
- Dell Technologies Proven Professional Certification
- IBM Certified Storage Administrator
- IBM z/OS or Mainframe-related Certifications
- ITIL Foundation
- TOGAF (desirable)
Key Deliverables
- Current-state storage assessment.
- Target IBM VTS architecture.
- Migration strategy and roadmap.
- Migration runbooks and rollback procedures.
- Capacity and performance reports.
- DR validation reports.
- Knowledge transfer documents.
- Production go-live support and hypercare.
Success Criteria
- Zero critical data loss during migration.
- Minimal planned business downtime.
- Successful migration of all identified workloads.
- Compliance with SLAs, RPOs, and RTOs.
- Stable IBM VTS operations post-migration.
- Complete operational handover and documentation.
This version is suitable for a Senior Storage Specialist / Storage Migration Lead role in a banking mainframe environment transitioning from Dell PMAX infrastructure toward IBM storage and virtual tape services.