How to Prep for a Data Center Relocation with Minimal Downtime

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, December 29 6:00

If your business has plans to move to a new data center in the future, you've likely considered how to make that move with minimal disruption. Often this involves pre-move procedures to relocate data and applications from one server to another. In many cases, however, equipment is simply unplugged at one location, moved, and set up at the new location. This process involves a certain amount of downtime, which businesses prepare to have months in advance.

Whether your business has set up a plan for continuity during your move or you anticipate downtime, you can work with your server moving company in advance to create a plan that will make things progress more smoothly. Skilled data center movers have experience with relocation preparation and help guide your business through the process.

Test Before Decommissioning

If your business has the luxury of setting up duplicate equipment at the new location, you can accomplish your move seamlessly. This is often the case with cloud migrations, where businesses with on-premises solutions are contracting with a third-party provider for a monthly fee. But your business may also have a need to upgrade some or all of its equipment, in which case a data center relocation provides the perfect timing.

If you'll be moving your data to new equipment or the cloud, it's important to proceed carefully. If you're executing a maneuver that could lead to a brief outage, be sure to save that operation until after hours. You can even schedule downtime and warn your users in advance that you'll be performing server maintenance during a specific date and time.

Warn Impacted System Users

If your servers will be decommissioned prior to your move, choose a date and time that will have as little impact as possible to your employees and outside users. Work with your server movers to make sure the downtime is as short as possible. Experienced IT movers will be able to tell you exactly what to expect so that you can prepare your organization well in advance.

In some instances, testing can still be done when equipment is being moved. Server movers can advise your organization on how to test connections and applications at the remote location well in advance. If this remote testing can be done prior to the move, businesses can often pinpoint problems and fix them, avoiding unexpected issues after the move is complete.

Prior to your move, your data center movers will help you prepare a plan for ensuring peripherals and cables are moved according to your specifications. With well-crafted procedures in place, you'll be able to get your items to their destination without anything being lost. Server movers also recommend businesses include a plan that ensures all peripherals and cables are easily accessible and assigned to the appropriate equipment to avoid wasted hours spent searching for the items necessary to get equipment set up quickly.

By planning in advance and preparing servers and employees for a move, a business can successfully implement a data center relocation. An experienced server moving company will help you put those plans in place to minimize downtime and help you maintain your business goals.