If your organization is looking to migrate your data center, it can be a time-consuming process with many variables. And because most organizations require reliable network performance and security, a data center is very important.
Migrating to a new data center can pose many challenges for an organization relying on the internet and the network for day-to-day work tasks.
Therefore, no organization can afford to experience network downtime or security vulnerabilities during the transition to a new data center.
These challenges can lead to poor employee productivity, cyberattacks, and data breaches that can result in adverse consequences including damaged business reputations, sensitive data being breached, and lost customers and revenue.
Importantly, a cyberattack can cost anywhere from a couple hundred thousand dollars to over one million dollars, depending on the size of the attack and damage to the network.
For this reason, it is important to understand the best practices for data center migrations so you can avoid the challenges related to network downtime and a host of other vulnerabilities related to data center migrations.
COEO understands the complexity of data center migrations and has helped thousands of organizations migrate to a data center efficiently while maintaining network uptime and overall security.
By the end of this article, you will understand the best practices for data center migrations and whether a data center migration is appropriate for your organization.
Best practices for data center migrations
Data center migrations can be complex, time-consuming, and costly transactions that include many steps to maintain network uptime and efficiency.
Because of this, it is important to understand the best practices for these migrations so you avoid the challenges that can occur with them. The best practices for data center migrations include:
Take inventory of all network assets
It is important to understand your current network environment. The best way to do that is by taking an inventory of all assets in your network.
To get a comprehensive view of the network, take inventory of network assets such as data infrastructure and architecture, stored data, software and hardware, network applications, workloads, and users.
For physical hardware, it is important to list the make, model, serial number, rack row and unit, and the purchase date of everything, if possible. Additionally, for software, it is important to list the dates that the last updates were performed on each software program and application.
Taking inventory of these assets will help you keep track when migrating to ensure all assets make the migration and are placed in the correct location.
Create a migration plan
Once all assets are identified, an organization must construct a data center migration strategy with clear timelines. A dedicated project plan should be created to manage the complexity of the migration.
The project plan also helps the IT and migration team plan when required network downtime will take place. This helps inform the organization, enabling the migration team to notify users ahead of time when network downtime will take place.
The project plan should also include the objectives for the migration as well as which assets will migrate, a strategy that factors in the current and new data environments, as well as the resources needed to perform the migration, such as employees, technology, and capital.
The complete timeline for the migration plan should include every action with clear goals and benchmarks throughout the process.
Plan migration process for network assets
It is important to plan the process considering network assets such as hardware, software, and applications.
First, organizations need to assess network assets for at least a year before the migration process takes place, to inventory existing assets and determine what is outdated and what needs to be replaced.
A year is an appropriate time to plan and budget for equipment and software replacements. This also allows enough time to negotiate prices and solutions with different providers to determine the appropriate equipment, solutions, and best pricing for your migration.
It is important to determine what new equipment is needed, what support the equipment needs, and what the full network will look like when integrated.
Finally, begin to map the migration path for each asset, starting with what needs to be transferred first to support critical services and then figuring out whether assets can be moved together or whether some applications and equipment need to be moved individually.
Identify teams to delegate responsibilities
Next, it is important to identify teams to delegate responsibilities. A data center is a large and complex process that requires significant manpower to ensure it goes smoothly.
It is important to identify the skill sets available in the organization and delegate migration responsibilities and form teams to manage them.
Once the teams are formed and responsibilities delegated, it is important to document the responsibilities for each team. This document will capture what they need to do, how to do it, and when to do it, so each person knows their exact responsibilities, enabling the migration process to go as smoothly as possible.
Develop a data backup and recovery plan
Data center migration processes are complex, and organizations should be prepared for anything. Data loss is one of the biggest risks for a data center migration.
Unexpected connection issues or a breakage in the data transfer line are just two of the challenges that can occur during a data center migration.
Because of this, it is important that your organization has a data backup and recovery plan in place to prevent data loss during the data center migration process.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about data center migration or ask any questions you may have, you can schedule an appointment.
Is data center migration beneficial for your organization?
Now you understand the best practices for data center migrations. However, it is also important to understand whether data center migration is appropriate for your organization.
If your organization has an unreliable network provider, migrating to a data center with a new provider may benefit your organization.
If you are looking to enhance network performance, migrating to a more up-to-date data center can improve your performance and security as well as enhance network flexibility and scalability.
Finally, if your organization is looking to lower the costs of your network infrastructure, migrating data centers may accomplish that objective.
However, if you’re looking to improve network performance and security, an SD-WAN or SASE solution may also accomplish your objectives.
Implementing these data center migration best practices into your migration process
Now you understand the best practices for data center migrations and whether a data center migration is beneficial for your organization. This will help you with your data center migration, enabling you to execute a smooth process.
Data center migrations can be complex, time-consuming, and difficult to manage. Extended network downtime can take place, resulting in poor productivity and efficiency.
However, following these best practices enables you to have a smooth migration process and avoid the challenges of data center migrations.
COEO understands how important network uptime and performance are and has helped thousands of organizations with data center migrations to improve network uptime and overall performance.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about data center migration or ask any questions you may have, you can schedule an appointment.
Now that you understand the best practices for data center migrations, read this article to understand the problems with data center migrations and how to avoid them:
