In part 2 of the data center relocation blog series we covered the asset and application inventory. Now that the administrative items are out of the way you can begin the migration planning to your new data center.
Project planning
Communication is key. The most important item to have in this whole process is a diagram of how you want your racks or cage setup. Providing this to your staff and data center technicians will minimize any communication errors for your setup.
Here is a checklist you should run through when putting your plan in place:
- Determine if you will need a migration service, and if so, schedule it
- Develop a day-of plan (including timelines, roles, and contact information) for migration team members
- If your staff will be on-site, reconfirm that your personnel have proper 24/7 access to the space. Be sure to coordinate loading dock space and access on your move-in date if you are transporting the equipment yourself.
- Can you pre-ship your items to the data center directly and will they hold them for you? What are their shipping and receiving policies?
- Review the layout of the site to determine where the equipment will be placed.
- Develop a disaster recovery/business continuity plan or extended downtime checklist of your components and hardware (next page) in case of failed hardware
- Confirm the number of power drops and their locations
- Communicate and confirm all your connectivity needs with your provider prior to test day and move-in day.
- Manpower – how many people do you need to move in what time frame?
Customer communication
Setting up a maintenance window and time expectations are very important to reassure your clients. If your relocation and setup is going to take 3 hours, for example, allow time to troubleshoot should there be any issues. 25%-50% more time should be enough. Always better to complete the relocation in less time than having to expand the maintenance timeframe.
How to notify your customers
- Create a simple pop-up once your users have logged in, if applicable
- Send a simple email a week in advance with basic maintenance language and a timeframe
- Let your users know you will send an additional notification upon completion
Stay tuned for part 3 and make sure to check out part 1 and 2 — and get notified when the next blog in this series is available, simply by signing up for our blog or by following us on LinkedIn. Click here to download our Data Center Migration Checklist.
Relocate to ColoHouse’s World-Class Data Centers
Your business data facility choice is just as critical as the data you’ll house there. At ColoHouse, we are dedicated to help businesses make their data center move a success. Our customers select ColoHouse’s because we support scalability and growth paired with industry-leading customer support. Our focus is to provide the infrastructure, services, and support that will give you the ability to allocate more resources toward your core business.
Talk to us today to see how we can help you take care of your data. Please contact us at sales@colohouse.com or +1 305-731-2225.
