Follow these tips to ensure your data center migration goes smoothly from start to finish.

There may come a time when your business needs to move its data center from its current environment to a new one. Whether you’re expanding your operations, merging, relocating to a new office, shifting to the cloud or doing so to meet regulatory requirements, the fact is that data center migration is complex, complicated, time-consuming and vitally important.

With such a huge undertaking, having a data center migration checklist is essential. This will serve as a blueprint for how the migration should be completed, who will be responsible for what tasks, and much more.

Having a data center migration checklist ensures that the transition is as smooth and pain-free as possible.

Reasons for Data Center Migration

You might need to undergo a data center migration for many reasons.

One of the most common reasons is to increase storage capacity and to add essential features and security while the business grows. For instance, your current data center that was set up for a small, one-location business may no longer be able to handle the complexities that a much larger, multi-location enterprise requires.

There are other reasons you might consider a data center migration, which we’ll cover below.

What is Data Center Migration?

Data center migration is the process of moving all of the data you currently store to a new environment.

The simplest example is moving your data from one old server to a new, upgraded one that has expanded storage capacity and features. More complicated migrations might involve moving all data to an entirely new computing environment in a new location.

The process can be extremely complex and in-depth, requiring careful planning so that everything is done properly and within a reasonable timeframe to minimize downtime.

Is It Time for Your Data Center Migration?

Sometimes, knowing it’s time for a data center migration is easy. If your company is merging with another company, is being acquired by another company or is acquiring another company, then migrating multiple sets of data into one is a rather obvious requirement.

In these instances, you could be migrating one data center into the other or migrating both data centers into one completely new one. Either way, the process is complicated.

Another common reason to undergo a data center migration is if you’re scaling your business and your current data center simply can’t handle your new needs. As mentioned, if you are adding locations to your business, you might require new IT infrastructure that can handle the data being transferred and accessed from outside just one office.

As IT infrastructure ages, it’s also important to assess whether your data center is sufficient and efficient enough to run the backbone of your business. When you’re trying to decide whether a data center migration is in the cards, you might ask yourself:

• Is my IT infrastructure reliable?
• Does my IT infrastructure run at sufficient speeds?
• Can I access my systems from anywhere, and if not, is this necessary?
• Do I have enough cybersecurity, and if not, can my current data center handle the features I need?
• Are there regulations, security standards or I need to meet, and can my current data center handle that?

Planning for Data Center Migration

Once you’ve decided you need a data center migration, create a migration project plan with the following steps.

Initial Assessment

Before you can actually migrate any data, you need to fully understand your IT infrastructure requirements. This includes the features, the storage capacity, the network needs, the dependencies and so on.

Conducting a site survey will help you determine the project’s physical requirements and identify where your current deficiencies are.

Setting Objectives and Goals

No business plan is complete without clearly defined objectives and goals, and this applies to data center migration as well.

First, you need to determine your goal for the data migration. It could be to migrate a certain number of resources and infrastructure to a specific location, or to integrate cloud capabilities into your overall IT infrastructure.

Once you’ve determined your goals, you can proceed to the next steps, which will include setting up processes and steps to reach those goals.

Budgeting and Cost Analysis

Similar to the above, no business project should proceed without a formal budgeting and cost analysis process. All data center migrations will require some expenses. The larger and more complex they are, the costlier they can become.

With such a large project, it’s essential to analyze the cost from end-to-end and determine whether any direct or indirect savings can be created.

Once you’ve reach;ed those financial conclusions, you can budget the expenses so they don’t disrupt the normal operation of your business.

Timelines and Milestones

Setting timelines for the completion of the project is essential for your data center migration to remain on task and on time. Without a timeline, it can be very easy for things to fall off the rails in a hurry.

One suggestion is to create mini-milestones within the overall project. These milestones will be easier for people to digest, helping them avoid getting overwhelmed with such a large project.

You can then track progress on the individual milestones, which will help your company stay on time and on task for the entire migration.

Defining Roles and Responsibilities

There are many steps to a full data center migration. While assigning roles and responsibilities should be a part of your data center migration checklist, that’s not enough. Someone will need to make sure that everyone is making progress toward their individual goals.

To this point, it might be a good idea to appoint a manager for the data center migration process. This specialized project manager will have general oversight duties over the entire process and can report to other company managers.

Stakeholder Communication

There will be many hands in the pot working on the nitty-gritty items of migration. It’s going to affect every employee at your company in some way and could affect your vendors, clients and customers as well.

That is why developing a communication plan to keep all stakeholders updated on progress is essential. You need to decide what you’re going to update people on, how you’re going to update them and what you’re going to update them with.

Executing this part of the process effectively will go a long way toward determining how well your company can continue operating while the migration is ongoing.

Pre-Migration Checklist

Several steps need to be followed pre-migration to ensure success.

Inventory and Documentation

You need to identify all of the IT infrastructure and data assets that will be migrated. This includes any data and apps you want to migrate, data owners, data tags, maintenance information, etc.

This inventory list will provide a roadmap on how your data center is interconnected and ensure that everything is migrated properly and completely.

Workload Plan

One of the biggest challenges of a data center migration is that you’ll need to continue operating the business as normal while it’s happening. Ensuring business continuity and minimizing downtime is key, as organizations rely heavily on applications every day.

Your plan should align all software and applications with solutions and platforms that will improve performance. Be flexible with what you choose so you can continue operating and be agile as an organization.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Before any data is migrated, it needs to be fully backed up, in case anything goes wrong. Should the migration crash, for instance, and files get corrupted, you’ll need an IT disaster recovery plan.

Part of your pre-migration checklist needs to include the apps and data that you need to back up, as well as where all of this data will be stored.

Developing the Migration Strategy

Now that the pre-migration checklist has been created and completed, it’s time to develop the strategy for the actual migration. This part of the process will include deciding on your approach to the project and selecting third-party vendors who will help you.

Choosing the Right Migration Approach

First, choose the right migration approach for your business from among the four main types of data center migrations:

• Consolidation: Are you merging multiple data centers into one central data center?
• Relocation: Are you moving from one location for your data center to another?
• Cloud: Are you moving your on-premises data center to a fully cloud-based one?
• Hybrid Cloud: Are you moving some of your data and/or applications to the cloud while keeping others on-premises?

Vendor and Partner Selection

Many businesses don’t have the knowledge, skills and experience to conduct a full data center migration on their own. If this is you, it’s OK; you’re not alone.

Many experienced third-party vendors specialize in data center migration. By working with an experienced third-party vendor, you can take advantage of many benefits, including cost and time savings, added security, decreased risk of data loss, a streamlined process and — perhaps most importantly — peace of mind.

Detailed Migration Plan

There are many steps to creating a migration plan, including planning for current and future infrastructure needs.

Network and Connectivity Planning

What are your data center networking needs and requirements for both LAN and WAN? Will users need to access the system from outside where the data center is located?

This information is essential to ensure your connectivity requirements are covered.

Dependencies and Ancillary Services

When the data center migration is complete, the goal is to ensure that everything appears as it was before the migration. To ensure this happens, you’ll need to map out all dependencies and systems within the current network so you can replicate them in the new one.

By understanding how migration might impact these dependencies and systems, you’ll be able to create a smooth transition in the back-end and for front-end users as well.

Testing and Prep

Right before you actually migrate your data center, it’s vital to conduct a final stage of testing and preparation to ensure you are ready for the full move.

Pre-Migration Testing

Simulations serve as a great way to test some of the critical stages of the migration. By setting up a lab-like environment, you can run simulations of what the actual migration will look like.

This will allow you to see whether you’re adequately prepared for the migration and identify and correct any issues before you begin.

Once the migration is complete, you’ll also want to test all the relocated resources before you make them available to end users. This will, again, allow you to identify and correct any issues before saying all is good.

Migratory Dry Run

Before migration day, consider performing a dry run. This is similar to a walk-through on the day before a big sporting event or a Broadway show.

It allows all affected and impacted parties to rehearse the job before actually putting it into practice so that you can work out any kinks before “the show.”

Execution Phase

Once you’ve fully prepared, it’s time for the actual migration, which includes the following steps.

Actual Migration Execution

As you begin the migration, constantly refer to the data center migration checklist to ensure everyone is on task.

The plan should include roles, timelines and contact information for every member of the migration team, in case you need to contact them. A move plan and/or work order should be available for each IT asset involved.

Real-Time Monitoring and Issue Revolution

To ensure everything is completed correctly, you need to monitor the progress in real-time, which requires creating a system to track issues and help resolve them quickly.

Part of your data migration process should be a “triage team” ready to respond to end-user issues.

Post-Migration Activities

The process isn’t done when the data center migration is completed. You still need to pay attention to the following details.

Post-Migration Testing and Validation

Before you can roll everything out to your end users, validate the integrity, performance and reliability of the infrastructure in your new data center environment. You should already have a testing process to ensure everything is working correctly.

If you identify any issues during the testing process, you can fix them before you roll it out to everyone, saving — and your employees, vendors, clients and customers — from a lot of headaches.

Data Integrity

Another aspect of post-migration is validating the integrity of system processes and application availability. You want to ensure every aspect of your system is fully accessible and perfectly secure.

The last thing you want to do is say something works when it doesn’t or expose a massive security vulnerability you’re not prepared for.

System Performance Tuning

The performance testing process won’t just ensure that everything works, but that everything works sufficiently and up to your standards. This will keep your front-end users happy and positive about the outlook for the process.

Debrief

Once the data center migration has been completed and deployed, debrief with all the team members involved. At this post-mortem meeting, everyone should be free to share their thoughts on the process, including what went right and wrong, what they were lacking and what their suggestions might be for the future.

This step is important not only to prepare for future IT projects but also to build team morale and recognize everyone for their hard work.

Does Your Business Need Data Migration Support?

Migrating a data center can be in-depth, complex and complicated. That’s why you must have a proper data center migration checklist and plan in place well before you start.

This data migration checklist will help set you up for success, serving as a blueprint for each step of the process. It can also serve as a great reference point for the experienced third-party vendor you choose to support you.

When you partner with Techmate, you can rest assured that your IT functions will run smoothly and up to your standards, with efficiency, effectiveness and security. We can help expand your staff capacity so your internal teams can focus on large-scale projects, such as a data center migration, while we take care of everything else.

For more information, please contact us today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are common data migration center challenges?

Some common data migration center challenges include merging multiple systems into one, minimizing downtime and ensuring that all processes post-migration run as smoothly and efficiently as they did pre-migration.

How should you choose a data migration partner?

When you’re choosing a data migration partner, it’s vital to choose one that has plenty of experience in this segment of IT services, and that will keep you in touch every step of the way.

How can you maintain operations during migration?

By having a solid data center migration plan in place, you can ensure that your business continues to operate while the migration is going on.