Data Centre Migration Best Practices
The decision has now been made. It’s in the best interests of your business to plan and carry out a data centre migration. A data centre relocation plan has been formulated between you and your migration service provider, and a data migration strategy and checklist have been agreed. A move of this nature is no small thing, and everyone involved needs the agreed strategy to run to plan. In order to avoid unnecessary delays, outage and downtime, best practice needs to be observed.
Ensuring Best Practice
Between the stages of planning and moving day, it’s essential to guarantee the readiness of all equipment, parts, and software. The aim is to minimise downtime and mitigate risks by conducting thorough backup testing before the migration date. This methodology includes:
- Developing a list of contingency plans to address potential risks, especially concerning data restoration, in case complications arise during the move. Contingency measures must be generous and realistic – expect the unexpected.
- If necessary, gather all media and license keys required for installing backup server client software.
- Shutdown and test all applications and databases to ensure a smooth start-up process post-migration.
The following responsibilities need to be addressed, ideally by different individuals within the relocation team:
- The Project Manager is a key position. A PM will coordinate and confirm dates with external stakeholders such as hardware and software vendors, as well as the old and new data centres. This ensures that everyone is aware of the moving date, minimising delays and complications. The project manager will need to be available to troubleshoot at every stage of the relocation. Their phone needs to be on.
- The Operation Administrator verifies the delivery of any required spare parts to the new data centre facility. It’s crucial to ensure that all necessary parts have arrived and are readily available. Op Admin must check the availability and functionality of remote console access at the new facility, ensuring a smooth transition.
- The Application Administrator reviews the availability of software components, including operating systems, databases, and application licenses. App Admin must also confirm their readiness for the relocation process.
- The Network administrator will establish a new network configuration by creating a comprehensive list of network information, settings, and verify end-to-end connectivity across patch panels to ensure uninterrupted network services.. They must share this list with the PM and all other administrators to ensure seamless implementation.
Depending on the size of your enterprise and migration, having four separate individuals across these areas isn’t always feasible, but it’s essential for someone to be performing these roles. Best practice is key to a successful data centre migration.