Top 10 Mistakes Smart People Make When Moving a Data Center
If you’ve been in the business long enough, the stories about moving a data center are endless. Some funny, some horrific! Here’s a short list of the mistakes common to data center relocation events:
#10. Going for the Big Bang vs. Multiple Move Events It’s not necessarily easier or cheaper, to move everything in one weekend. Explore your options.
#9. Hiring the wrong logistics partner – Joe’s Trucking moved your servers along with office furniture, pallets of fruit, and broken headlights. “Packing material? We don’t need ‘no” packing material!” Or our favorite of all time, “Sorry, l, just had to dart off the travel route to “visit my sick grandmother.” We’ve heard it all. Check your references. Do your homework!
#8. Too many projects / not enough people – People have limits, and working a 40 hour move weekend after a 50 hour work week never turns out well. Make sure your resource plan is realistic!
#7. Used Racks and Used Rails – It’s absolutely worth the money to “Buy New” for move weekend. Don’t skimp on cabinets, cabling and rails. These purchases will help lessen your downtime as well.
#6. Ordering too much Bandwidth – It’s better than not ordering enough bandwidth, but why not order the correct amount when it comes to such a large recurring expense as moving a data center? Pre-move network and application performance benchmarking are valuable investments and will help ensure that you accurately order the correct bandwidth.
#5. Lack of Change Control – One more server, 5 more servers, now 20…STOP! At some point, you have to draw a line in the sand or risk the whole move event. Change control processes are important and must be well administered
#4. Not Un-Racking the Equipment – Do server racks ever tip over with equipment inside? Yes – it can happen! Most racks are not meant to be moved with equipment inside, and, believe it or not, un-racking the equipment does not lengthen the move window much, if at all.
#3. Intelligent packaging – Don’t underestimate the importance of packing the truck in an organized manner, enabling you to unload the servers in the order they’ll be re-racked. And make sure your rails are packaged together with their respective servers.
#2. Pathway Obstructions – Trial runs help to uncover unexpected obstacles that can rear their ugly heads on move day. Tight corners, narrow corridors and floor or elevator weight limitations are just some of the items you’ll want to know about ahead of time.
AND — the #1 Mistake People Make When Moving a Data Center…
Bad Stakeholder Communications – Communication, in so many ways, can affect a move greatly. Executive dashboards, application owner updates and user awareness are all essential to a successful move.
