Server platforms Toolkit

Shifting data centres successfully

Tags:
Insurance,
Inventory,
KVM,
Backup

Brien M Posey Tech Republic

Published: 17 Aug 2007 11:50 BST

Whether you work for a large enterprise or a small company, you may one day find yourself having to move your company's data centre to a larger facility. Needless to say, moving a data centre is a huge job, even for a small company.

The key to a successful move is planning, planning, and more planning. Unfortunately, every move is different, so there is no way that I can tell you everything that you need to know about moving a corporate data centre. Having been through several moves though, I want to take the opportunity to talk about some of the most important aspects of preparing for a move.

How long can you be down?
The first question you need to address in preparation for a move is how long you can afford to be down. In a large enterprise-type environment, the typical answer is that no amount of downtime is acceptable. These types of environments typically have a backup data centre that can handle operations while the primary data centre is being moved.

Even if you have a backup data centre available, you will still want to expedite the move; after all, there might not be a backup for the backup data centre. If a catastrophe were to take the backup data centre offline during the move, then both data centres would be down. Of course, the chances of that happening are pretty slim, but, when you are planning a move, you should always plan for the worst-case scenario.

If you do have a backup data centre at your disposal, you need to decide when you will transfer operations to the backup site and how you will go about verifying that everything is running there before pulling the plug on the primary site.

If you work for a smaller company without a backup data centre, you must decide at what point the servers will be taken down. You must also decide how and when to let your customers know you will be offline for a while.

Prepare the new site ahead of time
In almost every case, your primary goal will be to complete the move and have the data centre back online in its new location as quickly as possible. That being the case, you should try to gain access to the new facility a few weeks prior to the move. By doing so, you will be able to prepare the new facility so that, on moving day, all you have to do is to plug the servers in and bring everything back online.

So, what types of things can you do to prepare the new facility? You could start by measuring the server room and creating a floor plan that shows where each piece of equipment or furniture will theoretically be placed.

Once you have a pretty good idea of where everything is going, you should check to make sure sufficient electricity is available. It could be that there are no plugs near one of your server racks. In that case, you will need to have an electrician come in and install some outlets for you.

Even if it appears that sufficient electricity is available, it's still probably a good idea to bring in an electrician to make sure that the circuits are connected to high enough amperage circuit breakers that your computers won't overload them.

The key to a successful move is planning, planning, and more planning

Another thing you can do to prepare the facility ahead of time is to run network cables and crimp ends onto them. The same goes for any other types of cables that can be installed ahead of time. For example, if you use extra long cables with your KVM switches, then maybe you could install the KVM cables ahead of time.

If you have a sufficient budget, you might even be able to purchase brand new server racks for the new facility. As I'm sure you probably know, most server racks must be assembled and then bolted to the floor before servers can be installed in them. By purchasing new server racks, you could have the racks assembled and in place prior to moving day. That way, all you have to do is install the servers.

Take an inventory
It's a good idea to take an inventory of the hardware in your data centre prior to the move. At a minimum, I recommend recording the make, model, serial number, and hardware configuration (memory, CPUs, hard disks, and so on) of each machine. Having an up-to-date and accurate hardware inventory will make it easier to replace any machines that are damaged or destroyed during the move. It will also speed the process of getting a settlement cheque from your insurance company in the event of a serious catastrophe.

Have a meeting of minds
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, moving your data centre is a big deal, and you need to plan for the worst-case scenario, even though a serious catastrophe is unlikely. This means that you must plan for the unthinkable. For example, what would you do if the moving truck containing all of your servers was involved in an accident and all of your servers were completely destroyed? The odds of something like that happening are slim, but the future of your company (and your job) depends on your planning for things like this.

I recommend having a meeting with your insurance agent and reviewing the coverage on your servers. Some of the questions that you will need to ask are:

If servers are destroyed, how long will it take to get a cheque to cover the cost of replacement servers?
Will my policy fully cover the cost to replace the servers, or will I get a cheque for the depreciated value?
Does my policy cover the loss of business that will occur as a result of excessive downtime?
What deductibles would I be required to meet?

This is also a good time to give your insurance agent a copy of your data-centre inventory. Doing so insures your agent is aware of all of your hardware and gives your agent a chance to verify your policy is sufficient to cover any losses that might occur. While you are meeting with your insurance agent…