Data Centre Relocation (DCR), Data Center Migration (DCM), Data Migration, and Data Centre Consolidation (DCC) are essentially the same thing, and represent the logical or physical relocation of IT services and infrastructure from one hosting location to another. The nature of this relocation varies, as it may involve no movement of physical infrastructure, or comprise loading everything into a truck and moving it to the new premises, or anything in between.
The idea of moving a data centre, with all possible risks of hardware issues and loss of data, can be a rather trying moment for many web hosting companies. Besides the logistical considerations one has to account for in the physical relocation process, you must also reduce the risk of service interruption to ensure normal running of your operations.
For a successful DCR, and the associated transportation of IT infrastructure, you can trust Sunspeed Transport Services to get the job done. Sunspeed has years of experience in the industry, backed with their own polished processes and procedures to ensure that their client’s physical and technological investments are in safe hands throughout the moving process.
The following are some key success factors for relocating a data centre to a new facility:
Project planning and logistics
A data centre is a complex entity, and its relocation will impact your business users and customers, as well as your staff, partners, and vendors. So, a proper migration endeavour should push for the involvement of all stakeholders. You should not underestimate the number of servers the new premises will have to accommodate, or the amount of time it will take, the hardware required, and the skills needed to complete the job, when it comes to migration and consolidation. This is particularly important when assessing account application dependencies. Since there is no single software that can see all interdependencies, knowledge has to be gathered from all personnel managing the applications.
Checking power requirements
Data centres built for modern equipment have a typical square foot wattage of between 150 and 300 watts, so you should find out whether the new facility has adequate electrical power. IT professionals often underestimate power requirements and costs, especially in cases where the facilities management pays the bills. A recent survey revealed that 68 percent of IT managers are not accountable for power costs pertaining to their data centre’s infrastructure. So, it is essential that IT and facilities staff communicate about their respective issues, as per their areas of expertise, in order to avoid any problems that may result in data centre migration and consolidation upheaval.
Upgrading infrastructure during the migration
Generally, any changes undertaken during a migration increase risks and complicate the project. So, it is important that hosting companies address issues relating to standards, licensing, and the underling architecture, before consolidating their facilities. This is particularly important whereby a move or consolidation is aimed at drive server virtualization. While virtualization is a worthwhile project, it is very involving, and attempting to implement it during a migration would mean tackling two challenging tasks at the same time, which increases the likelihood of disaster. In short, you should try to limit any changes to a minimal during the move, unless they will make it easier to reinstall new gear in the new premises.
While the mentioned factors are critical for a successful data centre relocation, one other thing to consider is that there is no substitute for experience. A migration will probably happen one in the career of many IT professionals, so companies generally have no on-hand expertise. Unfortunately, IT knowledge is not enough to oversee a data centre relocation successfully, so you need professionals like Sunspeed to make the entire process successful.