Data centre migration challenges
It’s easy for even experienced manager to get a data centre migration wrong. Those who succeed focus on these key areas.
Risk management
Extended downtime and loss of data are your main risks; how much of either you can tolerate depends on the importance of the apps. If they’re mission or business critical you want to minimise risk as much as possible – and because these are normally active/active you will need to consider external disaster recovery servers as well.
Discovery
Some applications run for decades, and if staff leave, the knowledge of how they work might leave with them.
Network tracing tools can help you rediscover the components and relationships of legacy applications. Use them to observe your network over time: some systems are in contact all the time, but some communicate more infrequently.
Compatibility
Legacy apps don’t always suit new environments. If this is the case, you can do a physical ‘lift and shift’ move during the data centre relocation, or you can transfer them to more current hardware. The second option is more difficult – emulators can ease the process, but sometimes you’ll need a full rewrite – but more beneficial in the long run: you can only rely on outdated systems for so long.
Network & latency
Every app you migrate needs to have a place in your new network: think about firewall settings, domains and trusts, and latency. With systems of sufficient importance, you should conduct a trial migration in a test environment.
Don’t forget – prolonged unplanned downtime and loss of data are the primary risks in any data centre migration – make sure you’ve dedicated the budget to avoiding these pitfalls – especially if the environment you’re migrating contains mission or business critical systems.
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Testimonials
Automation Consultants shares the same working values as us – they are part of our team, literally! They supply us with up-to-speed consultants who fit in seamlessly.
Theresa Pemble, solution delivery manager, Severn Trent
Using the technical expertise of Automation Consultants' people we have been able to identify and fix problems very early in the migration process thus saving valuable time.
HP Consulting and Integration
In an agile workflow changes to source code should be deployed and tested early and often – as soon as there is a working component you try it out straight away. After working with Automation Consultants all the developer had to do was click a button and wait 20 minutes to register the changes to the advertising platform.
Malcolm Reid, head of product development, Sky IQ
Automation Consultants has been involved in several different projects, from normal performance testing to testing the capability of new hardware systems, as well as creating several innovative bespoke tools that improved productivity, delivered high standard results and added value to the test process. During all of these projects, AC has been flexible and helpful, going out of their way to resolve any difficult technical issues.
Kenneth Lagerwall ,
IS Quality Services, T-Mobile UK
Automation Consultants' technical knowledge and understanding of the Rational toolset, combined with the excellent training they provide, has meant we can forge ahead with application development.
Andy King, head of test, ONS
Automation Consultants has been able to deploy highly skilled resources at very short notice and has always met very demanding delivery deadlines
HP Consulting and Integration
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