Sometimes, relocating or migrating would be the best idea when severe problems such as poor cooling to disasters to unsuitable physical security or unreliable data networks occur. Understanding the threats of any data center relocation event, foreseeing them, and in due course planning for unforeseen events are the best set off to even the most fine designed relocation experience. In migration or relocation of data centers some fundamental factors must be taken into account. Some of them are as follows:

Floor Spacing:

The ideal data center environment requires the capacity to handle a large number of data cables, the capacity to ably hold high heat loads that are erratic and varied, and the ability to settle in for future technological and cooling encroachment. For enhanced safety, the data center floor must utilize anti static tiles to condense the danger of electrostatic shock damaging of equipment components.

Connectivity:

The service should have admission to manifold ISPs with the cable incoming from different points of the building. This decreases the danger of outages due to a technical breakdown as well as construction and landscaping mishaps. It is also important to validate the roof access rights in the event of having a satellite or microwave line of sight antenna fitted in. Along with this, verification of the connectivity must also be looked into. Both the ISPs that enter the building and the types of data circuits that they can offer must be suitable.

Cooling:

In the recent time, IT growth and the considerable increase in power and heat compaction have stressed data centers to the highest limit of exhaustion when it comes to power and cooling. Most data centers try to preserve a 75F/25C air temperature. It is important to lookout for computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units that screech or disconcert loudly. This can be an indication of pitiable maintenance. Condensation from CRAC units should be drained away immediately through piping.

Fire Security:

Fire safety is important in any organization. The same holds good for data centers as well. Not only should there be smoke and heat detectors, but they should be connected to an alarm board that graphically/pictorially shows the locality of the fire on the building’s floor plan. The first line of resistance should be a gaseous system that chokes the fire by dislocating the oxygen in the air. These systems are less destructive than water based ones. However they are usually designed for fires of short duration.

Data Backing:

The backup system that is newly introduced in current location may be different from the one used at the earlier location. This can be a little tricky to restore historical data during or after the relocation because of server collapse or human error. It is recommended to check whether the new facility can handle data backed up using your software on your backup media. If this is not supported, it is advisable to invest in data conversion services with a third party. High-quality backup services typically store data for a preset period of time before reprocessing the media. It is important to store most of the data at a secured secondary facility. This protects the data from disastrous events at the main data center. However it is necessary to confirm if this type of extra data security exists.

Service Costs:

The service costing includes various facets of charges on facilities of bandwidth, power, cooling, security, floor space rental and custom services. The ideal way to determine these costs would be by keeping the costs of previous expenditure of the past with the current add on environment in mind. The current website architecture the costs can be presented as recurring and/or onetime expenses for easy calculation. Lower persistent costs can easily give the reading of cheaper operating expenses but the price may become adverse when higher setup fees are taken into account.

The above mentioned factors must help when planning to relocate data centers. The data centers in the vicinity may not meet all the criteria mentioned in the above list. Nevertheless, it will surely help reduce final costs to a manageable number. Data center selection is only the first stage of the physical planning for the relocation and will largely be the responsibility for services and networking teams.

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