Planning Lease Vs Build Site Selection Transition Strategy Risk Management Plan Document Management Plan Change Control

ontrol Process

Pre-Move Move Verify resources Co-ordinate 3rd Parties Dry Run Install Post Move Support Decommission Infrastructure review Application Assessment Transition Plan review Move Documentation Site Readiness Network Setup

Transition Plan The transition plan establishes the framework for the detailed transition plans in each area. It identifies the scope, budget, overall schedule, key personnel and roles, and risks and contingency, against which plans will be built

Best Practices Plan App Dependency Minimize Complexity and change ( no P2v or Upgrade of apps) 10 Step Data Center Relocation Methodology Following are the ten most critical tasks that any data center relocation must address. Look for a provider who can guarantee all ten of these tasks are meticulously and thoroughly addressed. Otherwise, you are taking a big risk with your most valuable and expensive IT investment. 1. Take inventory of every component that will be relocated or consolidated. 2. Address data security and data protection to ensure the business remains un-compromised.

3. Perform detailed planning to maximize the efficiency and budget of the relocation. 4. Assess budget to adequately address construction, renovation, site closure, equipment, and staff. 5. Communicate precisely in RFPs, SOWs and contracts Vague RFPs create poor SOWs. Partner with a data center relocation specialist right from the start to ensure you have detailed, relevant documentation. 6. Partner with data center relocation specialists according to your continuum of needs. 7. Plan the move, move on plan to prepare and engage all components including staff. 8. Prepare the new facility, and close the old one to ensure that all data center services are ready, tested and approved. 9. Back up your data and have a disaster recovery plan and data protection strategy just in case. 10. Migrate the moment when careful planning and competent project management result in a flawless move to a new data center hosting site. For more information about all that is involved in a data center relocation, what to expect, and how to make it a success, read our white paper: Keys to a Successful Data Center Relocation. Tags: data center consolidation, disaster recovery, IT Consulting, IT project management, relocation

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

How to Plan a Successful Data Center Relocation Logic, then Physics Preparing the Target Site Execution: Scheduling and Logistics Data Center Relocations Today

Logic, then physics Relocations can be achieved in a number of ways and often employ a combination of the following three methods:

Method No. 1: The lift and shift

The simplest, the lift and shift, involves taking a verified, successful backup of a system, powering it down, moving it and powering it back up. Physical Moves [Lift-and-Shift] as a Migration Approach? Many of my clients lean strongly towards a physical migration as a preferred approach. Logistically, you just un-cable, un-plug, un-rack, ship, re-rack, re-cable and re-plug, right? Wellnot really. A few of those items that arent always considered as significant risks include: o Does the vendor need to re-certify the equipment, especially for larger assets such as tape libraries or storage arrays? o Do they need to be involved in the selection of shipping vendor? o What are you going to do about the data if its located on a storage area network [SAN]? o Are you moving the entire SAN too? o What about NAS connectivity? o Whats the time impact of physically shipping between locations? o Are there special security concerns for data housed internally on the server(s)?

o o

Whats the back-out plan if the server gets lost or delayed? And its not cheap and you need insurance too. What are all the changes needed once re-installed? Server name, IP address, firewall rules, backup infrastructure, network routing, DNS, Load Balancing, etc.

Pros: Cons:

Method No. 2: The swing move

Another, more complex method is the swing move. This method entails setting up temporary systems at the target site and replicating data to those systems in order to shift an application or service to the target site quicklyand then powering down and relocating the equipment from the source site. The temporary equipment is retired once the service or application is again running on its original equipment. This method is commonly used when the time it takes to physically relocate a system exceeds the organization's tolerance for downtime of the application or service. Pros: Cons:

Method No. 3: The logical move

Another method that is gaining widespread popularity is the logical move, which does not involve physically relocating any assets. Logical moves are used for existing virtual machines or as an opportunity to migrate physical systems to virtual platforms. Many organizations find that data center relocation creates opportunities to gain increased efficiencies such as those that come from consolidating physical systems. Moves of this type involve setting up platforms to host VMs at the target data center, performing Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) migrations at the source site, and transferring those virtual instances to the target site over high-speed links. The VMs are then started at the target site and users are pointed to the applications and services running at the target site. Regardless of the method employed, an organization must always go through the exercise of defining the logical components of each service and application. It must map those components back to physical devices. This process, commonly referred to as application bundling, allows the relocation planners to develop a picture and logical sequence of events that must take place in order to move an application or service. It also helps to flesh out the logical and physical dependencies that applications and services have on one another. Pros: Cons:

Preparing the target site

Many organizations will find that some portion of existing assets is not worth moving. This may be because the assets have reached end-of-life (EOL), are being virtualized or are otherwise decommissioned. Regardless of the reason, any change in the number or type of assets that will reside in the target site will have an effect on the physical and environmental requirements of the target site. The bundling exercise will indicate what needs to move, what doesn't, and what accommodations may need to be made for swing equipment. From this, a physical space plan can be derived and the necessary calculations for space, power and cooling can be performed. Since most equipment racks are designed to be stationary, the systems must be removed from the racks prior to physically relocating them. As previously mentioned, a bundle may be composed of systems from multiple racks at the source data center. This means that there may not be a free rack available to move with the systems of a given bundle. For this and other reasons, most relocations will require some new racks to be predeployed at the target site in order to receive incoming systems from the source. Some organizations may opt to leave all racks behind at the source and deploy a uniform system of new racks at the target. This offers many advantages that may outweigh the costs such as standardization, the ability to easily integrate environmental sensors or rack-level security, and a uniform aesthetic in the target site. When specifying the requirements for the target site, it is important to keep in mind the opportunity for improvements and the ability to correct shortcomings that developed over time and as a necessity to sustain growth in the source site. One area in particular is the cable plant (OSI Layer 1); data center relocation gives an organization the option to hit the reset button on how they deploy and manage Layer 1. Companies must pay special attention to prepatching each rack with the proper color coding and labeling scheme prior to relocating systems to the target. Having each rack prepatched will save a considerable amount of time and minimize troubleshooting headaches on move days when time is precious. Execution: scheduling and logistics Compared to planning, move execution can be surprisingly less painful, especially with the right logistics partner. While it is possible for an organization to perform the necessary discovery, arrive at a solid set of move bundles and develop a timeline, few organizations specialize in the complexities of scheduling, managing and coordinating the logistics of data center relocation. Scheduling requires tight coordination with business units and application owners. The schedule must be governed by the organization's tolerance for downtime of the application or service that is moving. Downtime begins when the application or database is taken offlineand includes the time necessary to relocate assets, perform and verify a backup, replicate data (when required), power down the system, pack and transport, rerack and reinitialize. Within this timeline, a rollback plan must also be factored. Some platform vendors may require you to have vendor assistance with powering down and reinitializing a system. This fee-for-service arrangementoften referred to as recertificationis required so that there is no lapse in warranty and maintenance. Many equipment vendors will offer relocation services, which include the recertification service. However, it behooves an organization to compare the costs of an OEM move versus a non-OEM move with recertification services taking place after the fact. When using a proven relocation partner in conjunction with an OEM for recertification, risk is appropriately mitigated and the costs are commonly reduced. Insured and secure transportation of assets is also critical to risk mitigation. Data center assets differ from furniture in the way they must be handled, packed, secured and shielded from electrostatic and electromagnetic damage. As such, only qualified personnel and the appropriate packing materials should be used when transporting data center equipment.

Any party transporting data center assets must provide full replacement value insurance for theft, damage, or loss. Plus, this insurance must be applied to each conveyance (that is, each vehicle or vessel transporting equipment) as opposed to tying the insurance to the event itself, which may be comprised of multiple conveyances. The industry average default insurance is approximately 60 cents per pound of cargo, which won't cover the loss of any data center asset. Ensure that your carrier or relocation partner can provide conveyancebased insurance equal to or greater than the value of the conveyed assets. Data center relocations today Over the past two years, I have seen a dramatic spike in the frequency of data center relocation requirements. This is expected to continue for at least the next few years because the convergence of increased physical compaction of IT systems and the mean age of a typical data center will continue to force many data centers into early obsolescence. More than half of the data centers I have seen relocated in the past two years are facilities that are seven to 10 years old. The typical planning horizon for a commercial building is 20 years. Today's equipment power densities were not considered seven to 10 years ago. These power densities continue to be on the rise, with some analysts predicting greater than 40kW per rack and beyond. Unless your data center could easily handle that density today, chances are you, too, will be moving sometime in the next few years. Data center relocations are an exceptionally high-risk concept. The level of effort put into the planning phase by those who specialize in orchestrating these migrations is directly proportionate to the amount of risk mitigated. It is an exercise that requires collaboration with areas of the business with which one might not normally interface. Keep in mind that everyone is a stakeholder and approach the discovery exercise with patience and an open mind. These two guiding principles are critical to uncovering all of the information needed to accurately identify dependencies and understand the sequence of events required to move your assets. Chances are youll probably need to assemble a team comprised of more than just two guys and a truck. Kris Domich is the Principal Consultant of Data Center Solutions for Dimension Data North Americas. Kris has over 16 years of technical and consulting experience in data center migration, design, management and operations. His data center migration clients include many Fortune 100 companies as well as federal, state and local agencies. In addition to the United States, his repertoire spans continents, with significant experience in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Recognized globally for a strong business acumen and profound technical knowledge, Kris has served as a direct advisor to the executive leadership of numerous Global 1000 companies. Kris is a regular speaker at international trade shows and events, and often publishes articles on data center design, electro/thermal considerations, virtualization and other data center trends. He can be reached at kris.domich@us.didata.com.

Planning: Create PMO Create FMO Create ROADMAP to move from PMO to FMO Collect PMO The PMO document incorporates diagrams, inventory lists, service level agreements, descriptions of support processes currently in use (i.e. change management, configuration management, problem management, etc) and any other data that will insure the PMO is crystal clear. It also includes logical and physical interactions between components (hardware or software). The goal is to fully document what is being moved. The more comprehensive this document is, the more successful the execution of the move. FMO Desired Future State Here, the definition of success is determined. The documentation of the Desired Future State (DFS) provides defining attributes for the project and the conditions of success. Included are any changes to make in conjunction with the relocation (i.e., virtualization, enhanced storage, technology uplift for some or all servers, network upgrades, etc.). It also records the expected end state in sufficient detail to allow for the new environment to be administered using normal service management processes such as change management, incident Design Plan The project team is responsible for creating the roadmap for getting from the PMO to the DFS. This document, called a Design Plan, includes the various move groups, any new hardware and/or software that might be required, pre-requisite steps required or desired (such as virtualization), known risks along with the contingency plans for the risks, a high level timeline, communication plan and the impact of client processes on the design. The end result should provide a good understanding of the process that will be used to accomplish the data center relocation and any incremental budget that might be required to acquire the enabling components. Implementation Plan The Design Plan is the basis for the final piece of documentation, the Implementation Plan. This includes all steps, dates, and responsible parties for the tasks to be accomplished in their proper order and with all the appropriate interactions and linkages defined. Included in this process is the development of a Day of Move a Risk Management Plan is normally created for a project of great magnitude. The Risk Management Plan documents the level of complexity and risk associated with moving or migrating applications, ensuring there are test plans and communication strategies in place to support the migration. Each risk is fully documented and a mitigation strategy established. A Communications Plan is another option and is created to keep stakeholders informed of the progress of the move. It may include responses from a number of different levels, such as user communication, management communication, as well as technical team communication and in some cases, customer communication. Other standard project plan components such as a Quality Plan, Resource Management Plan, and Financial Plan may also be developed. Often these ancillary documents are produced by an

internal PM while the key documentation is managed by the vendor/partner PM. One thing is certain There is no cookie cutter approach to data center relocation, but most of the documents mentioned here are found in every successful move. Optional Docs Risk Management Plan Communications Plan Quality Plan Resource Management Plan Financial Plan