GREEN HOUSE DATA. Best Practices for Data Center Migration. Built right. Just for you. WHITE PAPER

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1 Built right. Just for you. Best Practices for Data Center Migration Presented by: Art Salazar, Director of Data Centers and Compliance Green House Data 340 Progress Circle Cheyenne, WY 82007

2 Introduction As companies undergo mergers and acquisitions, on premise facilities continue to age, and consolidation mandates are handed down, the need arises to migrate data center servers, storage, networking, and supporting equipment to new locations. Companies may choose to colocate or they may pick and choose the best equipment for a consolidated, company-owned data center. In either case, moving IT equipment and digital workloads between sites is a time-consuming and potentially costly endeavor. Risks when migrating data include hardware and data loss, unexpected or extended periods of downtime, customer or brand impact, reveue loss, and legal liability. This is a process that must be carefully planned and executed. These best practices will help plan for data center migrations. Check page five for a checklist and see the timeline on page two for a quick overview of how to budget your planning. Most data center managers take at least 18 months to prepare and move their facility. Step 1: Deciding what to move You might purchase all new equipment, you might move just some items, or you might haul everything to the new site. This is a great time to phase out older equipment and trade in rentals. Equipment migration can be risky if Most data center managers take at least 18 months to prepare and move their facility. This space should be built out long before you re ready to move in but make sure to check before the day arrives. something breaks on the way, you might not be able to get your system up and running on the other side. Loaner equipment or a service contract for the migration period can help smooth the transition. Go back through your contracts with hardware and software providers. Do any need to be terminated? Can they move with you? There might be limitations based on location, or compatibility issues if you re adjusting platforms during the move. If you are extending contracts, you might be able to negotiate better deals during the move. Since you re tearing everything down and setting it back up, it s a great time to finally ditch a troublesome vendor or try out a new service. You may also need to adapt your equipment to the new space. Is it finally time to implement aisle containment or pods instead of just cages? Can you design a higher density environment? A migration allows you to explore efficiencies and take a look at what is or isn t working in your facility design. Once you know what equipment is moving, decide whether you will move all at once or in chunks. If you do a piecemeal migration, you can get elements of the data center running 2

3 Budgeting Time for Data Center Migration Explore Software Options Evaluate New/Old Hardware Packing Moving Setup Actual Move 25% Planning Process 75% Review Notify & Collaborate with Other Departments Disaster Recovery Organize Teams Write Detailed Plan Testing Unexpected Events Hardware Inventory Software Inventory FINISH START in the new location and begin to transfer systems. Otherwise, rentals or a service contract may be necessary to avoid downtime. If your organization is comfortable with downtime, that may not be a problem. Decide if you have the resources to move yourself or if you need a service provider. This can be a professional IT company that specializes in data center work or it can be as simple as a regular mover just make sure they have experience handling IT equipment. Step 2: Reviewing the environment and performing equipment inventory Before anything is unplugged or taken down to the loading dock, pull your system logs and inventory documentation. Check to see if everything is there and record any new equipment. Measure utilization and discover what workloads are live, what backups are scheduled, and what software and applications are in use. If you have contracts Testing disaster recovery is a good way to prepare for the actual move. with service providers, they will need to be notified: disaster recovery, for example, will need to point to the new location. Some items may need special licensing in order to run concurrently or temporarily as you cut over to the new data center. Tag what is staying and what is going. If a piece of equipment is moving, look up and record the warranty information and serial 3

4 Unexpected or Extended Downtime Perceived Data Migration Risks Budget Overruns 66% 39% 25% 11% 9% 2% 21% Source: Hitachi Data Systems, March number. Make sure nothing in the migration process will void the warranty. Now is the time to set up or adjust disaster recovery or backups. It is wise to have a physical backup as well as one in the cloud. Testing disaster recovery is a good way to prepare for the actual move. Step 3: Gathering a team and making the move Schedule your target move date to avoid interfering with a heavy business period, like an upcoming product launch or internal project. The actual move will probably happen during off hours, both at your current facility and the destination. Ensure you will have access to all necessary building areas. As you gather a team, group personnel into leaders, physical movers, and digital teams ready to monitor and migrate systems. Create a comprehensive plan for moving day that includes how and what will move, backup plans, installing equipment including what goes where, and testing. Think about the risk involved in each step and seek to minimize any business impact. Pack and organize in a sensible manner. Label everything and be a stickler about it. Boxes of cables need types and lengths on them. Servers should note what block and/or room they are destined for. This will greatly simplify reinstallation. If you are doing a piecemeal migration, you can move the data center floor-by-floor or you can use a different system, like moving non-critical systems first. Dispose of old equipment and supplies responsibly. Recycle electronics if you can (with a local, onshore recycler if possible) and sell what is still useful. Be certain no data remains on any devices. Clear technology or purge-level sanitation may or may not be adequate to purge data. Degaussing or physical destruction of storage might be necessary depending on the data and industry at hand. Dangerous equipment like batteries must be handled properly. Security is paramount during this process. Know your workers, track your equipment, and keep an eye on digital and physical security logs. This is an easy time for people to sneak past your usual perimeter as doors are left propped to carry items or firewalls are shut down. Take or destroy security keys, documents, and access systems as required. 4

5 Data Center Migration Checklist Write a detailed migration document Define the project: what is moving? what is the cost? Allocate resources: on-call teams, specalists, general budget Perform risk analysis Inventory equipment Inventory software Check system dependencies Plan future system requirements Go through a step-by-step decomissioning, packing, moving, and re-installation plan Decide if you need rental or interim equipment If so, obtain, set up, and test the environment Plan for accidents, damage, and other unforeseen obstacles Network topology Discover when the best time is for the move to minimize business impact and set downtime limits for each application group, department, etc Perform disaster recovery, backups, or other form of dry run Double check backup systems Book transport and personnel and make sure they can handle equipment Assign teams, leaders, and deadlines Architect layout of new space Lay cables Move, install, and test equipment Test connectivity, network, applications Dispose of old equipment responsibly Inform users of any changes and solicit feedback Post-migration audit Tweak cooling, power, and other supporting systems Check all monitoring and security logs for suspicious activity during the move Ensure new security systems are functional Perform detailed inventory and diagram of system architecture Perform compliance audits if necessary 5

6 Step 4: Documentation and testing After moving everything over, it s time to start testing. First check the equipment in the new facility against your newly created inventory in case anything was misplaced along the way. Check off your list of systems and application to make sure they are all running correctly, or that a replacement is in place. Complete a project audit and review for future documentation and evaluate the success of the move. Did you hit your schedule? Were design specifications met? Ask your team about how they thought it went, and ask C-levels and heads of other departments if their needs are being met post-move. There is much to keep track of during a data center migration, and these steps are mostly broad strokes to help you start thinking about how, what, where, when, and why you are moving equipment and systems. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is documenting the entire process, starting with a strong plan and ending with an audit. This also helps you lay out the process as you go, while leaving a paper trail to help discover errors along the way and measure success at the end. About Green House Data - Green House Data provides VMware powered cloud hosting and colocation backed by 24/7 live support. Headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the company has data centers in Cheyenne, Portland, OR, and Newark, NJ. The facilities are HIPAA and SSAE 16 Type II compliant, powered entirely by wind and solar power, and designed to be 40% more energy efficient than comparably sized data centers. Wyoming Headquarters 340 Progress Circle Cheyenne, WY Orangeburg Data Center 1 Ramland Rd Orangeburg, NY Denver Office th St, Suite 1240 Denver, CO T: F: E: info@ 6