WHAT EVERY BODY OUGHT TO KNOW BEFORE MOVING A DATA CENTER Blaine Berger
What Everybody Ought to Know Before Moving a Data Center Blaine Berger Page 1
All rights reserved. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Further distribution by any means is prohibited. Send your publishing permission requests to: TeamOneHorse@gmail.com Send your sponsor inquires to the author: blaine@e-oasis.com Cover Design: Gregory B. Russell Interior Design: Gregory B. Russell Published in the United States by Team One Horse. Version 1.0 (Newborn Foal) Online Version Page 2
Dedicated to One Horse. Page 3
Contents Contents....4 Introduction...5 Is Your Move Feasible?...7 Data Center Move Phases....10 Governance...11 Budgeting...13 Cost Model Categories...15 Site Selection....17 Pre-Move Planning...19 Teardown...23 Transit...24 Arrival...26 Re-Assembly...27 Post-Move...29 Do You Need Help?...31 What Have You Learned?...35 About the Author....36 Promotional Consideration....38 Page 4
Introduction No two data center moves are alike. They can range from complex to straightforward and everything in between. Deciding how to start the planning requires research. But researching online is time-consuming with conflicting information at every click. For example, there are 1.5 million results for data center moving checklist. Even if you could read and synthesize all those results, do you have the time? Professionals today are under immense time and resource pressures. Data center move planning requires learning some fundamentals and deep experience to avoid costly mistakes. Some project managers build a plan where everything has to go right and then expend extraordinary effort tracking in minute detail everything that goes wrong. Others don t take enough time to compose a comprehensive plan for a smooth relocation. Is there a better way? Yes! Moving a data center is a serious undertaking where any misstep can be costly. Time constraints, budget constraints, organizational pressures, and overworked staff can all contribute to the perfect storm. Expertly navigate that storm with the foundation given in this guide. Understand the basic phases of a data center move before you resume your online searching. Form a move narrative, establish governance, and make some decisions as practical first steps. I understand the panic you may be experiencing, especially if this is your first data center move. I talk to professionals every day who ride that fear coaster. That s why I created this guide. Page 5
It s a place to start, to make sense of the process, and to give you context to sort the conflicting information you discover. This guide covers each phase of moving a data center including governance, budgeting, site selection, pre-move, teardown, transit, arrival, re-assembly, and post-move. Where I live, springtime in the Colorado Rockies sends carseeking rocks hurtling toward the valley roads. These hazards often can t be seen in time while traveling the winding passes. Like the Watch for Falling Rocks signs, this guide warns you of the hazards that await your data center move journey before impact. Isn t that your goal? To move your data center without getting hurt. Important concepts introduced in this guide include: The importance of a move narrative The utility of the uncertainty gauge The difference between a cost model and a budget Why governance matters How to counter confirmation bias The power of over communication Hazards of ignoring equipment acclimation Getting to a coherent vendor needs briefing How Will You Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again? Everyone asks this question. You dismantle your entire data center, move it to another location, and re-assemble the pieces. And like the nursery rhyme, there is always the fear that All the King s horses and all the King s men couldn t put Humpty together again. It s a valid concern, but it s not the first question you should ask. Page 6
Is Your Move Feasible? Your first question should be Do I know enough to determine feasibility? In other words, can you predict your chances of a successful move with the information you currently have? Imagine you are driving blindfolded with only one instrument available. A special talking compass that blares uncertainty warnings along with the direction of your heading. Uncertain you are going North, or mostly certain you are going North, it warns. Those two different facts will certainly influence how hard you press the accelerator. Feasibility analysis is nothing more than calibrating your uncertainty gauge. Why is this important? It informs your priorities and keeps you focused. Too often, we all expend too much effort on what we know instead of effort to identify the unknown hazards. Below are a few questions to help you determine feasibility: Has the destination been chosen? Do you know your budget? Have you prepared a move plan? Have you prepared a risk and contingency plan? Have you assigned responsibility for each phase of the move? Have you determined the impact of downtime to your business? Do you have a move timeline established with lead-times documented? If you have too many items undecided or changing constantly, your move might be feasible you just won t have any confidence in its feasibility. Even worse, you ll be unable to defend Page 7
the move s feasibility to management. The best way to handle this uncertainty is to document what you know right now. As you learn more, your move narrative will take shape. A move narrative is a place to collect the known and the unknown. One place for your fears and hopes calibrated with your uncertainty gauge. To get started, take this move narrative quiz: 1. What is moving? 2. When is it moving? 3. How is it moving? 4. Who is doing the move planning, execution, and cleanup? 5. Do you have a budget? 6. Do you have a written move plan? 7. How much downtime can you tolerate? 8. Do you have a physical inventory? 9. Do you have an application inventory? 10. Do you have current, documented network drawings? 11. Do you have equipment elevation drawings for the destination? 12. What specialized equipment do you have that requires extra attention? 13. Do you have a plan for decommissioning the origin? 14. Do you have a plan to celebrate your success? Don t worry about incomplete answers. You ve taken the first step to documenting your move narrative. Why is a move narrative important? Because a move narra- Page 8
tive helps you organize your initial thoughts and: Becomes the historical record along your journey, allowing others to quickly understand the decisions no matter when they come onboard. Shapes your actions and narrows your focus, highlighting the elements of uncertainty for attention. Informs your initial communication you will articulate to staff and vendors. Keeps you from chasing out-of-sequence activities that might have to be re-done anyway as you learn more. And as you learn about the data center move phases, revisit your move narrative often. By the end of this book, your data center move narrative will warn you about hazards far better than a collection of online tips and checklists. Let s understand the data center move phases that govern most relocations. Page 9
Thank You for reading this sample. Save this copy by right-clicking and choosing Save as... A Special Offer for You! Save $3 by buying the book using the link below. Why Buy This Book? I ve made most of the mistakes I warn you about in my book What Everybody Ought to Know Before Moving a Data Center. I understand that you have no time to waste. I understand that you have a certain idea of what you want. An example work breakdown structure (WBS), a budget, a move playbook, or comprehensive checklists are the immediate things on your mind. In short, the easy button. Thank You! Save $3 http://gum.co/ybln/3reasons For a limited time. Page 10
Why do you need to understand the process when you could just modify an existing plan? Perhaps there is a universe where understanding and deep experience is unimportant. Where recipes found online are good enough to complete complicated, sequenced events. I don t live in that universe and that s why I wrote this book. Perhaps you have a singularly unique team. A team that shares a common sense of urgency, that makes decisions without running out the shot clock, or that communicates with accuracy and precision. I ve never encountered a team that didn t need training, or a move where team members don t join at inconvenient times, or an urgent event that doesn t require a different approach to decision-making. That s another reason I wrote this book. Perhaps you have those rare executives who are experts in every undertaking or who make timely decisions without precise data. They budget for timely and generous rewards for the deserving. They understand that the original budget was just a guess. They recognize that their staff has never moved a data center before and need training and maybe even outside help. I ve met only a handful of these people, so I wrote this book to encourage more of this behavior. Data center moves range from complex to straightforward Page 11
and everything in between. Deciding how to start the planning requires research. But researching online is time-consuming with conflicting information at every click. For example, there are over 1.5 million results for data center moving checklist. Even if you could read and synthesize all those results, do you have the time? Do you have the experience to know which advice to follow? Data center move planning requires learning some fundamentals and deep experience to avoid costly mistakes. Have you discovered an easy button for experience? Some project managers build a plan where everything has to go right and then expend extraordinary effort tracking in minute detail everything that goes wrong. Why does this happen? Read my book to learn the alternative Break dependencies instead of tracking them. Understand the basic phases of a data center move before you resume your online searching. Form a move narrative, establish governance, and make some decisions as practical first steps. I understand the panic you may be experiencing, especially if this is your first data center move. I talk to professionals every day who ride that fear coaster. That s why I give you a place to start, to make sense of the process, and to give you the context Page 12
to sort the conflicting information you discover online. This book covers each phase of moving a data center including governance, budgeting, site selection, pre-move, teardown, transit, arrival, re-assembly, and post-move. What is your goal? To move your data center without getting hurt? Important concepts introduced in this guide include: The importance of a move narrative The utility of the uncertainty gauge The difference between a cost model and a budget Why governance matters How to counter confirmation bias The power of over communication Hazards of ignoring equipment acclimation Getting to a coherent vendor needs briefing For a limited time, I am offering you $3 off the book by using this link: http://gum.co/ybln/3reasons Questions? E-Mail me at blaine@e-oasis.com New Book Alerts Sign Up: http://datacentermoving.com/newbooks/ Thank you for your support! Page 13
Author s Note This guide has benefited from improvements from generous readers. Did you find the guide useful? Are there topics you wish were included? Do you have a data center move success story to share with me? I welcome all of your feedback, suggestions and questions. Blaine Berger blaine@e-oasis.com About the Author Blaine Berger is an inventor, an author, and an entrepreneur of 17 years. His previous 13- year career at IBM included programming, architecture, consulting, and business development. Blaine has a BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Wyoming and is GIS (Geographical Information Systems) certified from the University of Denver. You can connect with Blaine on LinkedIn, Google+, or via e-mail sent to: blaine@e-oasis.com Page 42