TOP 5 Data Center Migration Best Practices

Migrating to a new data center is essential for companies looking to meet the growing demands of IT and data services. However, this process is not without its challenges. Thus, it would be wise to tread carefully and assess both the core needs and challenges that usually accompany data center migrations.

The process of Data Center migration involves moving a part or the entire data center of a company to a new one, either physically or virtually (shared data centers via the cloud).
How can organizations ensure that the migration of their data centers goes smoothly? Although any major IT change may result in a mishap, there are a few best practices you should follow for a data center migration that can help minimize risks:

1. Plan and Determine the your budget

To ensure that a project management plan is developed and executed in an orderly manner, organizations need to identify a project manager and define roles for the migration team.
Gartner states that “Cost optimization will drive cloud adoption” for the foreseeable future. Most data center migrations end up costing more than anticipated, usually because planning and risk assessment aren’t done properly. Before starting a migration, organizations need to be realistic about their application needs and expectations.
So there are no surprises when they move into the facility, they need to make sure their new data center provider has everything in place to accommodate their IT infrastructure. As soon as the migration is complete, applications must function as well or better than before.

2. Consider the provider’s equipment recommendations

Over the years, colocation data centers have undergone a variety of successful and difficult migrations. Data center personnel know their infrastructure inside and out, and they are also familiar with the best equipment. In recommending power strips, cabling, and other equipment for migrations, colocation providers can offer advice based on what has worked best in past migrations.

3. Analyze which data may need replication, if any.

When migrating a data center, managing the data can be a major challenge, especially if critical applications have to be able to access the data. Furthermore, there is a possibility that some data may be lost or damaged during the migration, so it is crucial to establish a backup strategy.
To facilitate data access during the move, it is possible to set up a temporary “parallel” or “swing” environment. In case of data replication and transfer, additional connectivity may be needed so that the transfer can proceed.

4. Verify the need for equipment at the new location.

Changing to a new IT environment is a major shift for an organisation’s data center business plan. Equipment needs that have long been taken for granted may require special accommodations when moved to a new location.

The migration team should make sure that the physical configurations of all equipment are in alignment with the provider’s infrastructure. If additional components need to be deployed for a successful installation, it’s better to secure them long before the hardware arrives at the new facility.

5. Provision new network services in advance before disconnecting existing services.

Cloud service providers and Internet connectivity providers often take several weeks to implement new network services for their customers. It’s the last thing a company wants to discover after moving to a new colocation environment that its network will not be accessible for several days.
This may require paying for parallel services, but avoiding unnecessary downtime and facilitating a seamless data center relocation is often well worth the expense.

Are you considering a move to a new data center for your data and applications? Contact the CAD Gulf team today for more expert advice or to migrate to a proven and reliable colocation data center as soon as possible!