Statement of Work (SOW)
Project Name: Micro-Segmentation Implementation for Security Compliance
Employer: REST Consulting Services
Project Manager: Lala Mammadova
Project Duration: 6 months
Client: [Confidential Microcredit Company]

Project Overview

The client, a microcredit company with a banking-like infrastructure, required a micro-segmentation implementation at the virtualization level (VMware ESXi NSX) to align with security compliance requirements. The infrastructure followed a multi-tier architecture, and segmentation was designed to be enforced per tier. The goal was to enhance security, restrict unnecessary lateral movement, and improve network visibility. During the discovery phase, all servers had to be listed, NSX installed into ESXi, and NSX vRealize Log Insight had to monitor traffic flows for three weeks to analyze top talkers before implementing security policies.

Project Discovery & Initial Planning

  • Facilitated stakeholder meetings to gather business and compliance requirements for segmentation policies.

  • Coordinated with engineers to define project scope, ensuring all server dependencies were accounted for in the segmentation strategy.

  • Oversaw the installation planning and resource allocation for NSX deployment in ESXi, ensuring smooth implementation timelines.

  • Managed the execution timeline for NSX vRealize Log Insight deployment, ensuring proper data collection for traffic flow analysis.

  • Provided regular project updates to necessary stakeholders, ensuring transparency, alignment, and proactive issue resolution throughout the project lifecycle.

  • Developed and maintained a comprehensive project roadmap, defining key milestones, risk management strategies, and validation checkpoints.

Risk Assessment Plan

Stakeholder Communication Plan

    • Proactive Communication: Maintained continuous updates to stakeholders during maintenance windows to manage expectations and minimize disruption concerns.

    • Incident Response Plans: Established a structured escalation and response plan to address unexpected outages quickly and keep stakeholders informed on remediation steps.

    • Post-Incident Reviews: Conducted post-outage analysis meetings with stakeholders to identify root causes, document lessons learned, and implement preventive measures.

    • Transparency & Accountability: Ensured detailed reporting on outage impact, resolution timelines, and action plans, keeping executives and compliance officers aligned on progress.

    • Incremental Deployment Approach: Recommended a phased rollout strategy to reduce downtime risks, prioritizing critical services first.

    • Redundant Network Paths: Implemented secondary failover routes to ensure minimal disruption during maintenance and policy changes.

    • Staging Environment Testing: Before enforcing any segmentation changes, policies were first tested in a controlled staging environment to identify potential issues.

    • Rollback Strategy: Developed a predefined rollback plan that allowed for instant restoration of previous configurations in case of unexpected failures.

    • Automated Monitoring & Alerts: Deployed real-time monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect anomalies and potential risks before they could cause outages.

    • Maintenance Window Optimization: Scheduled segmentation enforcement during low-traffic periods, minimizing business impact and allowing for controlled testing post-implementation.

    • Enhanced Traffic Flow Analysis: The high volume of intra-tier communication required more granular real-time traffic monitoring before enforcing segmentation policies. Future projects will leverage extended monitoring periods for greater accuracy.

    • More Rigorous Staging & Testing: The need for additional simulation testing in a sandbox environment before live deployment was evident. Future projects will enforce a longer pre-implementation validation phase.

    • Stronger Pre-Defined Rollback Mechanisms: Outages highlighted the importance of having faster rollback automation in place. Future implementations will include automated rollback scripts for instant recovery.

    • Stakeholder Expectation Management: Regular pre-maintenance briefing sessions will be scheduled before every major deployment to align stakeholder expectations on risks and mitigation plans.

    • Fine-Tuned Security Policy Creation: Instead of applying broad segmentation rules, a gradual implementation approach will be followed, prioritizing critical services first before expanding security policies across all tiers.

Case Study Summary

Challenge: The client required a tier-based micro-segmentation implementation in a complex, high-traffic banking infrastructure. The primary risks included high intra-tier traffic, tens of thousands of data flows per week, and the potential for critical service outages post-maintenance.


Solution: A phased micro-segmentation approach was implemented using VMware NSX and vRealize Log Insight, allowing for precise traffic flow analysis and strategic policy enforcement. Ports were carefully selected to ensure continued service availability.

Results: Despite 3 unexpected outages post-maintenance, segmentation policies improved security compliance, reduced unauthorized lateral movement, and enhanced network visibility. Further optimizations were planned for reducing downtime in future rollouts. This document outlines your role as Project Manager, covering planning, execution, risk management, stakeholder coordination, and performance evaluation for the Micro-Segmentation Implementation Project.