Moving? How to Get the New Space Ready for Your Servers

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, June 01 6:00

Moving is a stressful experience, requiring months of planning and a great deal of collaborative teamwork. When that move involves a business s server equipment, that stress is far greater. Companies can t afford to have downtime, so it s important that servers be disconnected and reconnected as quickly possible.

One of the best ways to minimize downtime is to make sure the new space is ready on move day. All you ll have to do is drop the equipment in place, power it up, and tell your users to connect. Here are a few things you can do to prepare your destination space for the arrival of your server equipment.

Get Access as Early as Possible

As soon as you know the location of your new server room, determine the earliest date you ll be able to access the room. You ll likely need multiple tours of the facility in the months leading up to your move, but it s also important to know what day you ll be able to begin preparing the room for your arrival.

Check Cooling Systems

Server rooms must maintain a temperature in the low to mid 70s. This is easy enough to do without equipment on site, but once your servers are on site and in use each day, the heat will quickly rise. If it doesn t already have it, the server room should be equipped with its own air conditioner. If an a/c unit is already in the room, you should have experts check it to make sure it s fully functional.

Install and Verify Electrical

Whether the destination site is already a server room or you re converting it to one, a thorough check of the existing electrical setup should be part of your preparation process. An expert can review the room and recommend changes that should be made prior to move day. As soon as the site will allow it, have the electrical installed or repaired so on move day you ll simply have to plug in and get started.

Remove All Traces of Dust

Dust can destroy the sensitive components of a server. Once the room is empty, the first move should be to have a cleaning specialist completely remove all traces of dust and debris from the room.

Install Racks

Once the room is empty and you have approval to do so, begin installing the racks that will hold your equipment. Racks can be easily put in place well before your move day. Having the racks already in place will speed things up the day of the move, since your server movers will be able to slide the equipment into place and plug it in within minutes of arrival.

If you re working with expert IT relocation specialists on your server move, discuss what you can do well in advance of move day to make things go more quickly. The remote site may be more than willing to allow you access to the room to do the preliminary work. Even if you can t clean and add racks to the room until a couple of days before the move, you can still assess the electrical and put a plan in place to address issues quickly, saving time and reducing costly delays.