Data center relocations are a huge job – with many months of planning and a period of very busy, labour-intensive physical work involved; all, of course, while trying to negate any downtime and avoid any issues with service for end users. That’s why at Procurri, we help businesses manage their data center relocation projects from conception to completion, with every aspect taken care of by our expert teams. Read on to learn more on our approach and just how you can ensure your relocation goes as smoothly as possible.
The Difference between Data Center Relocation and Data Center Migration
While relocation and migration might be interchangeable words in many contexts, this isn’t quite the case when it comes to this niche IT process. Relocating a data center refers to the physical relocation of data center hardware and supporting equipment to a new location (be this a completely different site, or a different area on the currently used site).
Migrating a data center refers to the transference of data between computer storage devices or systems, no matter where they may be physically located. This keeps the initial data center running and allows for data to be transferred back to its original locale should something go wrong. Depending on the level of data being moved, it can be a big job, but is considerably smaller a project than that of a full data center relocation as the physical aspect is removed.
Data Center Relocation Project Plan: The Must-Haves
Whether an organization is involving a third party to manage their data center relocation or taking it on themselves, there are some critical parts and responsibilities that must be considered.
Appoint a Project Manager
It is critical that one person has the oversight of the entire project and is able to manage all aspects of it, with an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved. Given the nature and complexity of data center relocations, it is imperative that the project manager has knowledge of the appropriate hardware and software configurations as well as the impact of any changes, issues or errors along the way.
The project manager will be responsible for holding meetings confirming the progress of the project plan and ensure that all parties are held to account for timely and cost-effective delivery of their roles.
Map out Project Pre-requisites
Data center relocations are not as simple as finding a new locale and simply arranging for hardware to be shipped over. Instead, there are a large number of pre-requisites that need to be factored into the choice of not just the new location but also the new configuration and its eventual installation. These are usually comprising the environment the data center is within, the hardware, and the software, and include:
- Confirming levels of hardware and software support on each piece of hardware to be moved
- Confirming power at the destination has been tested and is working with correct availability and connectivity
- Confirming there is enough space and ventilation for the servers to be racked and still perform effectively once functional
- Ensuring network switches are pre-configured and that patach panels have been tested in advance
- Ensuring spare media is available for installation ‘just in case’
- Ensuring pre-approved access is arranged for vendors
- Ensuring any remote console access is functional
- Ensuring that the new configuration has capacity for further development and growth in line with the business’ expected scaling plans.
The project manager must assume responsibility for each required pre-requisite and ensure that everything has been thoroughly tested before any physical movement takes place.
Create an Itinerary
Every physical and data resource should be listed out, with a plan in place for everything that needs to be relocated, decommissioned or installed for the first time. What’s more, it is often beneficial to list out all of the people or teams who have been assigned a task within the relocation plan with a set deadline for each. Working with a GANTT chart or similar dated plan allows for everyone to understand their individual obligations and how they factor into the overall success of the project.
A list of all resources also allows for easy overview of the progress of each relocation task and its place within the wider project.
Physical Moving Checklist
Alongside the resource list of every piece of hardware to be moved, there a variety of practical considerations that must be taken into account before the physical relocation can take place. This includes:
- Details on any loading dock/equipment and access to it
- Dimensions of any lifts or elevators that hardware must fit into for transportation
- Details on any traffic restrictions from the building
- Details on packaging/receiving areas and waste collection
- A plan for the order in which hardware should be moved (what needs to go in first? What won’t physically fit around other hardware? What is required to be wired in first? What is dependent on other hardware to function?)
- Details of any requirements for un-racking and re-racking
- Details on who will complete cabling work.
Arranging Back-ups
While it is likely that back-ups are enacted routinely, it is critical that these are thoroughly tested ahead of any data center relocation to ensure they work as needed if needed. This can be done as part of existing testing protocol, or as part of a development or staging environment that resembles the new server configuration.
External data storage arrays should be backed up off-site for business continuity purposes, and ideally, the organization will have a completely separate disaster recovery site in place ahead of time so that service can be restored should something go wrong.
What’s more, all media and license keys should be on-hand for installing back-ups if needed. Everything must be available ahead of the date of data center relocation so that service does not cease if things don’t go quite to plan.
Compiling Last Minute Tasks
As all good project managers know, the devil is in the detail. One small chink in the armour can cause a vast knock-on effect – which in terms of data center and server functionality can have drastic business impact. There are a variety of smaller ‘strands’ to a project that should be in hand ahead of any relocation, and these include:
- The compilation of contact details for every involved party in the relocation
- Confirmation of all administrators either online for remote support or arrived in-person on-site
- Reviewing the progress of all tasks on the project plan compared to their deadline; and reviewing options for expansion of time requirement if needed
- Ensuring all new cabling is installed and labelled ahead of the physical equipment move
- Ensuring OS admins have reconfigured networks for the new location prior to them being powered down in the old – and testing this work to ensure its success
- Ensuring admins have sufficient access for full checks of cabling, configuration and firewall connectivity
- Ensuring devices are able to powered on in the correct order so that the required storage can be immediately identified by the server once its live
- Ensure admins are prepped for a full health-check of OS, storage and network connectivity once it is live; to be followed by DBAs and application admins checking their relevant systems
- Ensuring a QA team is prepped to test all apps wholly and certified ahead of users being notified of the new functionality
- Ensuring all parties are aware of the ‘back-out’ strategy and have this reiterated to them ahead of the relocation in case of error.
Of course, the above is only scratching the surface of everything involved in a full data center relocation, which is likely to take several months of full-time work from many parties. Many businesses simply do not have the internal resources to manage such projects, and that’s why they choose to work with specialist firms such as Procurri.
Our expert teams manage data center relocations all around the world, including for extremely complex configurations and major moves. Our expertise is unbeaten in the channel, and with our global maintenance services we can extend the lifespan of your data center assets to maximize the value derived from them.
Contact Procurri now for a designated point of contact project manager, specialist technicians, 24/7/365 support and the world’s largest stockholding of hardware. What more could you need for a data center relocation, domestic or international?!
