Planning is key for a successful data center migration

A data center migration that starts without proper planning is a recipe for disaster and downtime. That's why Data Center Dynamics recommends that 75 percent of the time spent working on a data center migration should be allocated toward the planning process. More important than the time allotted to your plan design is the level of detail and complexity you put into your game plan. Ultimately, data center migrations are expensive and risky IT projects, and must be be treated like a top priority to avoid downtime and sudden escalating costs.

Ask the right questions
Data Center Knowledge says that data center managers must make decisions about issues like risk mitigation and migration end goals long before IT teams begin to pack up a firm's hardware. First, companies must recognize if data center migration plans are being driven out of necessity or are designed as a preemptive growth measure. Scalability requirements, for example, are much different depending on if a company is interested in pushing short-term expansion or just meeting its recently inflated storage needs. Companies must also determine how much downtime and potential dollars they are willing to sacrifice in order to perform safe, controlled migration. Solidifying the answers to these questions early-on will help IT teams to make critical decisions in the middle of a migration.

Consolidate and streamline
The United States Army was recently faced with a data center migration of its own, according to GCN. Brad Carson, undersecretary of the Army, challenged military data facilities to consolidate their resources in a centralized data center for defense agencies. The Army began its migration progress by first culling its long list of files and software applications. Nearly 1,000 unused apps were cut from the Army's files in preparation for the migration effort. This strategy can be easily applied by data facilities companies of all sizes and in any industry. Removing excess apps prior to the migration process reduces the amount of time needed to transfer files to their new location.

Compare migration strategies
There are several ways that IT teams can go about the physical process of migrating a data center from one location to another. The most straightforward method is to actually shut down the entire facility, pack up server racks and cooling equipment, and physically move it to the new space before rebuilding the data center from its component parts. Companies that are already running a virtual environment like VMware will have the ability to simply drag-and-drop files from the virtual space to their new destination. These steps need not be taken independently or in this order. A team could also utilize a console server to remotely manage the transfer of files between one location to another, while another group of IT professionals packs sensitive hardware into physical containers. Teamwork and communication are also key to a successful data center migration.

Perle's wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.