Looking for a way to boost your business’s computing power and get ahead of the competition? Data center migration may be the answer. 

What is data center migration? It’s the act of moving your entire infrastructure from your on-site servers to a remote or cloud-based data center environment.

Of course, successful migration of an entire data center is no small task. One minor issue and you could lose essential data or applications. That’s why it’s crucial to create a detailed data center migration plan to ensure you don’t miss any important details.

For companies looking to move to a more powerful computing space, here are the steps to follow as you create your data center migration project plan.

Careful planning is the key to accomplishing any task. Your data center is too important to leave anything behind, so make sure your plan is detailed and follows all data center migration best practices.

Ready to start crafting your data center application migration plan? Here are the steps you need to take.

Complete a System Audit

Before you create your plan, you need to know what you’re working with. Complete a full audit of all your systems that identifies all components of your IT infrastructure:

• Hardware
• Software
• Applications
• Procedures

While you’re compiling your list of IT assets, highlight which need to be duplicated during the migration. Your software and applications won’t work until post migration. 

If something is critical to your operation, it needs to be duplicated so you can continue to use it during the move. This will help to minimize downtime.

Create a List of Goals

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know how to get there. Draft a list of all the goals you hope to achieve with a data center migration. Be realistic with your expectations and make sure all goals are measurable.

Create a Timeline

Once you’ve identified your goals, create a list of data center migration steps needed to achieve each goal, along with an expected timeframe to complete each step. 

Setting deadlines for each step will keep you on schedule, helping you avoid costly downtime. This will keep you on track as you move through the migration process and act as your data center migration checklist.

Establish Responsibility

Assign team members to specific steps to ensure accountability. Without assigning responsibility, tasks might not get completed, and your data center migration strategies will fall behind.

When assigning responsibility, consider the capabilities of your team members. Data center migration services is a tricky process. You can’t just unplug your servers and load them onto a truck. 

They need to be properly deinstalled to avoid damage during transport. Assign responsibilities based on who can get the job done properly. There’s too much at stake for mistakes.

Verify System Requirements

Before migrating, be sure your new data center infrastructure can keep up with your business needs. 

If you’re moving your physical server to a new location, verify that all data center design best practices can be met:

• Power requirements
• Cooling design
• Space configurations
• Security considerations

On the software side, ensure the new data center has the capabilities and integrations to support your existing data center functions. This is especially important if you’re moving to a public or private cloud solution that doesn’t rely on hardware. 

The last thing you want is to go through data center relocation only to find out that several important business applications won’t work in the new environment.

Speak with your data center provider to ensure all your data center functions can operate in the new environment.

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Create an Effective Data Center Migration Plan

Data center migration is a difficult process. The only way to ensure successful data center migrations is to:

• Establish measurable goals
• Create a detailed step-by-step plan
• Establish team responsibilities
• Verify all system requirements

If even one detail is left out, it could lead to expensive downtime and repairs.

Manage Your Migration with Quadbridge

For challenging projects like data center migration, it’s always best to have an expert on your side. The professionals at Quadbridge have experience helping businesses with data center migration and insfrastructure management. 

We’ll help you create a data center migration testing checklist and guide you through the migration process, so you won’t miss even the slightest detail. Contact us today for a quote on guaranteed data center migration success.