BlogData centres
Migrating servers into a new data centre
By Vicky Ogola, Senior ICT Consultant 1 min read
Inventory, dependencies, move groups, rehearsals and rollback plans make a data centre move uneventful.
Moving servers is risky: systems depend on each other in ways nobody remembers until something breaks.
Inventory and dependencies
List every server, application, owner and dependency.
Group moves
Move systems that depend on each other together.
Choose the method
Physical moves, virtual machine migration or rebuilding — depending on systems and downtime tolerance.
Rehearse
Test the process with non-critical systems first.
Plan rollback
Know how to return systems to the old location if something fails.
Communicate
Tell users about downtime windows in advance and confirm after.
Verify after each move
Test each system after it moves, with its owner, using an agreed checklist: services start, users can connect, integrations work, backups run. Only then move to the next group.
See our data centre migration services.
About the author
Vicky Ogola
Senior ICT Consultant
Vicky Ogola writes about network design, connectivity, data centres and the infrastructure that business systems depend on.