What to Expect From a Data Center Migration

A data center is the foundation for your company’s entire infrastructure. That can make data center migration a daunting and risky task. If done improperly, you could experience significant downtime, which could negatively impact your bottom line. Smart companies, however, work to organize a no-downtime data center migration. In order to do that, you must first know what to expect and how to navigate through the data center relocation process.

Make a Plan

Diligent project management is key to a successful data center migration and your project should begin with a clear, elaborate migration strategy. Understand the reasons behind the data center move and map it out ahead of time so you can plan accordingly. Your strategy should identify the project budget, steps and resources, as well as the breadth of the project and potential limitations.

Identify Risks to Minimize Them

With a project as complex as data center migration, it’s imperative you understand the risks involved and prepare a mitigation plan. Consider services availability, as well as both data and hardware migration, to minimize the risk of an unplanned outage.

Complete an Inventory

Before beginning a data center relocation, be sure to account for all IT components in the data center — from hardware to software and network equipment to storage devices. Once all components are identified, an IT team will need to determine the interdependencies among them. All servers must be accounted for to ensure none are knocked offline in the migration process.

Pay Attention to Details

Expect the unexpected and plan accordingly. When creating a timeline for your data center migration, delays can result for any number of reasons, commonly because of unexpected hardware failures, dropped servers or missing cables. Unanticipated events can stall the process, and a delay in your data center migration can create downtime. Factor delays into your timeline so that you can ensure your migration is completed within schedule.

Limit Your Service Interruptions

It’s unrealistic to expect your systems to continue to operate uninterrupted during your migration. Service interruptions are inevitable, but a downtime strategy is still crucial. There may be no ideal time for a company application to go offline, but look for a time that is least disruptive to the operation. Downtime impacts customers and costs money, so your strategy should minimize those risks. Before you begin, figure out how much downtime would cost you and use that information to help guide your migration approach.

Verify the Relocation

Once your data center relocation is complete, assess the new system. Check that all cabling has been completed and that all equipment has been properly installed. The complexities of a data center move can’t be avoided — but you can help to streamline the process by planning ahead and preparing for potential obstacles. Cover all your bases to make sure your migration is a smooth process.