Datacenter

Migration

Datacenter migration is often regarded as a purely technical,almost trivial side-project, to be delivered by existing IT staffalongside their day jobs. With core business services relianton IT, a datacentermigration can expose the business itselfto a significant degree of risk. This article discusses the casethat it is essential to plan, manage and execute adatacentermigration with the appropriate level of rigour andcontrol, utilizing proven methods and expertise to ensure thebusiness can continue uninterrupted.

The datacenter is at the heart of the enterprise - a complex,interconnected array of equipment, software and data thatdrives the business and powers every aspect of theoperations. Yet change is inevitable, and as the businessgrows, companies may find there are mission-criticalreasons why such a move makes sense. Some of thereasons companies decide to relocate a datacenter include:

Think, Plan, Execute

Business reasons

Businesses are increasingly dependent on their ITinfrastructures to drive mission-critical operationsthroughout the enterprise, from high-volume financialtransactions to web-based, global commerce to always-onservices. For many businesses, that means significant costsavings can be realized through datacenter consolidationand rightsizing. For others, a merger or acquisition drives theneed for broad scale integration, and a spike in the demandfor data storage. Increasing regulatory requirements alsoplay a significant role, as companies struggle to meetcompliance, archiving, data management and securityrequirements. And every business needs a businesscontinuity plan that includes disaster recovery, backup andremote operations. For some companies, the reasons fordatacenter migration are simple: market success hasresulted in explosive growth that has rendered the currentfacility obsolete.

Netmagic Datacenter Infrastructure

Datacenter migration projects typically involvea broadspectrum of internal and externalstakeholders. Eachstakeholder views the datacentermigration project uniquely,based on his or her charter. Typically, the CFO views it as acost, while the CIO considers it a business challenge. Thedatacenter manager perceives it as a logistical nightmare;the systems administrator views it as a technical challenge;and the business units see it as a potential outage, and athreat to the revenue stream.

Technology reasons

The continual evolution of infrastructure technology istransforming the modern datacenter. Acres of individualservers and miles of cable are being replaced by high-density clusters of rack-based equipment, reducing theneed for physical space. Advances in network bandwidthare making it possible to store and access mission-criticalapplications and data remotely. At the same time, moreprocesses, documents and data are being digitized,increasing the need for more advanced datacenterconfigurations. No matter whatever drives datacentermigration, the goal is to minimize the downtime of business-critical applications and systems while making the move.

Datacenter migration projectstypically involve a broad spectrum ofinternal and external stakeholders.Each stakeholder views thedatacenter migration projectuniquely, based on his or her charter.Typically, the CFO views it as a cost,while the CIO considers it abusiness challenge. The datacentermanager perceives it as a logisticalnightmare; the systemsadministrator views it as a technicalchallenge; and the business unitssee it as a potential outage, and athreat to the revenue stream.

Most important, it represents a potential inconvenience tocustomers, and perhaps even a reason for them to goelsewhere. It is, therefore, important and necessary to

address each key stakeholder's concerns and work withthem to design and implement a plan with the least impactupon customers.

Most organizations make significant investments in theirnew datacenter facilities, leading to a state of the artphysical plant. High security and redundancy of the facilityand utilities are common. A frequent oversight, however, iscarrying over poor processes, procedures, architecture, anddocumentation into the new site. In order to achieve thedesired availability of applications and data, the maturitylevel of the IT infrastructure and processes must meet orexceed the design criteria of the facility.

Determine scope through organizationalreadiness analysis

In order to understand the scope of preparations andinvestment required for a smooth migration, an organizationmust first evaluate its readiness to undertake the initiative.The maturity of an organization's IT infrastructure processes,procedures and documentation has a direct correlation tothe complexity of the undertaking, and the level ofcomplexity is a major factor in an initiative's cost and risk tothe business.

Organizations with well-documented, actively-managedasset management, disaster recovery, monitoring andmanagement, and change control programs have theessential elements required to successfully undertake adatacenter migration. They will not have to invest in thediscovery, validation or development of information andprocesses in order to prepare. Conversely, gaps in theseprocesses and documentation must be addressed prior toor in conjunction with the project. Failure to address gapswill introduce a high degree of risk to the project and couldlead to outages that negatively impact the business.

Carry out a readiness assessment

Performing a best practices check-up for infrastructuremanagement provides a baseline of the organization

2

Steps to a successful datacenter migration

3

readiness to undertake this initiative. The objective is toevaluate the accuracy and completeness of processes,procedures and documentation. Focus areas include:

Support Structure - Are problem management, notificationand escalation processes current and documented?

� Service Level Agreements - Do they exist? Are theydocumented? Are they current?

� Documentation - Do the five basic documents(configuration, startup, shutdown, backup, recovery)exist for each asset? Is there a central repository? Isthere a document control system? Is the documentationcurrent?

� Asset Management - Does a current system exist thatreflects all assets and related portfolio information?

� Maintenance Contracts - Are these consolidated into asingle data source, preferably the asset managementsystem? Do the maintenance contracts reflect servicelevels proportionate to criticality and usage of theassets? Are contract expirations proactively managed?

� Financial Management - Does all information related toenvironment lifecycle costs exist in a central repository(asset management system)? Does a total cost ofownership (TCO) model exist for each asset?

� Change Control - Is there an actively managed processthat tracks and audits all changes to the environment,including facilities, hardware, software, applications anddata structures?

� Architecture - Is the IT architecture well defined anddocumented? Is the architecture team involved in thedesign and validation of initiatives?

� Capacity Planning - Does an automated system exist totrack the usage baseline and deltas in the environment ata component level?

� Performance Management - Does an automatedsystem exist to track the baseline and deltas of theenvironment's performance to a component level?

� Monitoring and Management - Does an automatedsystem exist to track the availability and service levels ofthe IT environment? Are support and escalation

procedures automated and current?� Business Initiatives - Is there an overall perspective on

the parallel initiatives that will be undertaken by IT andthe business during the life of the datacenter migrationproject? Are the impacts and resource requirementsunderstood and documented?

� Stakeholder Management - Have the basicrequirements and value proposition for the datacentermigration project been communicated to the businessand internal/external partners? Has a communicationplan been established and implemented?

� Resource Availability - Is there a commitment ofresources from each of the stakeholder groups in directrelation to the project timeline?

� Industry Regulations - Are the compliance ramificationsof the project understood and overseen by a certifiedorganization?

� Logistics - Have the decisions related to the location ofthe destination facility been finalized? Is there a strategyfor the location of assets by class by facility?

� Migration Project - Has the project executive definedthe basic initiative timeline? Is there a dedicated projectmanager? Does a corporate project management office(PMO) exist and has this initiative been registered withthe PMO?

� Disaster Recovery Plans - Do current validated plansexist for each environment? Because a datacentermigration is essentially a managed disaster recoveryevent for which the IT environment will be reestablishedat a different location, disaster recovery is the mostpertinent area to the success of the project. A thoroughdisaster recovery plan provides key information aboutthe interrelationships between the infrastructure and thebusiness, the criticality of applications and data, and themechanisms to mitigate risk.

Based on the project timeline, a determination needs to bemade for each gap area on whether to implement a long-term or interim solution.

Assess the environment

This phase of the project involves gathering, combining andcorrelating information about assets and their use in supportof the business. Analogous to a disaster recovery plan, thisstep baselines the environment and begins the process ofasset classification. Each asset must be identified and theportfolio of information regarding its use andinterrelationship to the whole environment must beestablished and documented. The output of this phase is theasset repository that reflects the current inventory, technicaland business interrelationships, and supporting assetlifecycle information. Best practices include automatedasset discovery and tracking, and the use of an industrystandard repository such as a configuration managementdatabase (CMDB) that is capable of providing acomprehensive view of all aspects of each asset.

Netmagic Datacenter Infrastructure

Netmagic Datacenter Infrastructure

Design, validate and plan the project

Building upon the assessment, each asset must becorrelated to the business function it supports. This stepparallels the disaster recovery process of defining recoverygroups; for the sake of this project, these groups will bereferred to as "move groups." Each move group representsa consolidated collection of assets that support a keybusiness function or IT support function.

Each move group is analyzed for its criticality to thebusiness and assigned a corresponding ranking. Thedisaster recovery plan for each move group is consulted,along with the technical architecture employed foravailability and recovery. The result is a migrationmethodology tailored for each move group based on theservice level agreement, risk mitigation capabilities thatcurrently exist and an approved business case for additionalinvestment required to support availability or limit risk duringthe migration.

The output of this project phase will be an overall projectplan that includes detailed task plans, time budgets, andresource and contingency plans. A migration calendarshould detail the timing of move events in relation tobusiness initiatives and cycles. A communication plan andcommand center structure should be documented andvalidated with all stakeholders.

Implement the plan

This phase is where the detailed analysis and planning paysoff. Each stakeholder should understand his or her role andtasks. Decisions regarding contingencies and timelines havebeen established. The command center coordinates theactivities, tracks and communicates progress, and performsproblem management and escalation coordination.Successes and failures are documented and utilized post-migration to improve the process for subsequent events.

Manage the environment post-migration

Upon completion of the datacenter migration, it is imperativeto take one additional step: the incorporation of knowledge,updated processes, procedures and documentation into thenormal support structure of the IT infrastructure. Themigration project will have validated or generated currentinformation about the IT infrastructure. As change isconstant in information technology, this information will havea limited shelf life. In the normal course of business, theseprocesses, procedures and documentation all too oftenbecome a low priority for compared to the demands of thebusiness on IT organizations. Quickly incorporating thisinformation and implementing a process to continuallyrefresh it will achieve a far greater long-term result thansolely the migration of assets.

The benefits of a successful datacentermigration

The benefits of carefully planned and executed datacentermigration go well beyond what meets the eye of the user orcustomer. Done correctly, the end result is not only aseamless transition for the business, but also the creation ofa set of business continuity disciplines that can validate orprovide groundwork for disaster recovery and businesscontinuity planning - as well as IT and physical security,asset management, systems documentation, changecontrol, operating standards and processes, capacityplanning, maintenance and license management, serviceand operating level agreements, business alignment anddatacenter facility management.

In other words, successful datacenter migration cancompletely transform the overall operating environment - itsprocesses, procedures, documentation and personnel - in away that has significant, lasting benefits for anorganization's disaster recovery readiness as well as day-today operational efficiencies.

Datacenter migration checklist

Stage 1: Planning & Design

� Define the scope & size of the project� Plan, agree and allocate resources & budget� Agree key determining factors, limitation, (network,

security etc)� Undertake a risk analysis and complete due diligence

activities� Create project plan identifying the critical path & key

resources� Complete inventories of existing systems and

interdependencies� Identify future system requirements (pipeline for growth)� Create a step-by-step decommissioning, rebuilding

equipment plan, including health and safety proceduresDetermine interim equipment requirements to keepsystems operational during the migration

� Devise a contingency plan to include illness, accidentsand damage to equipment

� Define connectivity requirements and allocate adequatetime for new connections

� LAN design/ WAN detailed diagram� Consider your company's operational requirements and

plan the move to cause minimal disruption� Undertake a "dry run" to test if the plan is achievable

Stage 2: Pre Migration

� Check for readiness of racks, power circuits, cage andbiometric reader

� Ensure back-up systems are in place & operational� Data Backup (prior to migration)

4

5

� Check that transportation and buildings can cope withequipment size & weight

� Check for common surveillance camera covering newcustomer cages

Stage 3: Migration

� Review deployment teams tasks & timelines� Plan new space configuration and reference racks I grid� Install and test new data cabling (certification to be

issued)� Ensure all identified processes and procedures are

followed� Checking on connectivity between hardware equipments� Test network and application components� Arrange for M&E engineers, hardware and software

experts to be on-call� Advise users of changes, and provide contact points for

issues

Stage 4: Post Migration

� Post implementation review� Re-balance air-flow systems� Check electricity quality� Closely observe all building and equipment monitoring

systems� Test security systems� Detailed diagrams rack / network / patching / LL

connectivity� Infrastructure deployment complete signoff from the

customer

Netmagic Datacenter Infrastructure

marketing@netmagicsolutions.com www.netmagicsolutions.com1800 103 3130

About Netmagic Solutions (An NTT Communications Company)

Netmagic, an NTT Communications company, is India’s leading Managed Hosting and Cloud Service Provider, with 8 carrier-neutral, state-of-the-art datacenters across the country. Established in 1998, Netmagic has been a pioneer in the Indian IT Infrastructure services space as it was the first to launch services such as cloud computing, managed security, Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service and software-defined storage. An IT Infrastructure Partner to more than 1400 enterprises globally, Netmagic, also delivers Remote Infrastructure Management services to NTT Communications’ customers across Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific region. Netmagic is the recipient of several industry accolades and was recently chosen by India’s CIO community as the best service provider of Datacenter Managed Services and Cloud services, at the CIO Choice 2015 Awards.NTT Communications has subsidiaries and offices in 43 countries / regions, with over 21,600 employees worldwide. It had total operating revenues of 1230bilion JPY for year ending March 31, 2014 and has infrastructure worldwide, including leading global tier-1 IP network, the Arcstar Universal One™ VPN network reaching 196 countries/regions, and 130 secure datacenters.

NTT Communications is a part of NTT Corporation, Japan – one of world’s largest telecommunications companies and ranked 53 on Fortune Global 500 list (2014).

For further details please log into | Twitter: | LinkedIn: www.netmagicsolutions.com @netmagic @Netmagic Solutions

About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimize the information and communications technology (ICT) environments of enterprises. These offerings are backed by the company’s worldwide infrastructure, including leading global tier-1 IP network, Arcstar Universal One™ VPN network reaching 196 countries/regions, and over 150 secure data centers. NTT Communications’ solutions leverage the global resources of NTT Group companies including Dimension Data, NTT DOCOMO and NTT DATA