Success story
IT Infrastructure Migration
“We were very impressed with the overall organisation of the project. Their communication with us was excellent, the attention to detail was remarkable. And Data Centre Professionals delivered a day early. We decided to engage with them to carry out the ongoing maintenance of this and our other data centre installations.”
VP Global Network Infrastructure
The Challenge
Migrating IT infrastructure equipment from one Data Centre to another requires meticulous planning and forensic attention to detail. This is necessary because the equipment is in active use which means the migration is time critical and has to be completed with the smallest amount of downtime.
This project, for one of the major global Content Delivery Network providers, was to migrate their IT infrastructure to a new data centre in south London with a maximum 5 days downtime.
The original installation comprised of 7 cabinets of servers, switches, routers and patch panels – in total around 250 servers.
Planning the Move
With years of experience Data Centre Professionals (DACPros) have developed a successful structured project management methodology that delivers rapid IT infrastructure deployments.
All the tasks are defined and then reviewed to identify those that can be carried out in parallel rather than serially. Scheduling this way we significantly reduce the network downtime, and by sharing out the tasks accordingly amongst the team, results in a smooth implementation.
The plan includes working out the positioning of the servers, routers and patch panels, and ensuring devices are located logically together. This makes for easier access when equipment needs to be examined, manipulated or must be within easy reach.
“Advance planning is fundamental to delivering a tidy, smartly laid out and configured installation. Our project management is a key differentiator and it’s the reason why we achieve significantly reduced network downtimes.”
Tamas Szarka, CEO DACPros
Placement of rails, blanking plates, cable management bars to corral cables neatly and the positioning of power cords are all things that require prior planning.
The resulting benefit is that the installation is logically laid out, tidier and easir to maintain.
The whole network infrastructure for the new Data Centre was configured in advance and included the precise location, layout and placement of every piece of equipment in the racks.
The Move
The on-site survey, of both the old and new colocation data centres, was the first step and was made well in advance. The objective was to assess any risks that could lead to delays and to identify any work that could be done, before the equipment move, so as to minimise any disruption of service.
Starting at the old Data Centre all the servers were marked up with their new cabinet slot locations and the order in which they were to be loaded on the transport.
In parallel, the DACPros advance team were setting up the cabinets, installing rails and blanking plates in the new Data Centre
“Instead of waiting for the old cabinets to be decommissioned the team pre-fitted and configured switches in the new cabinets. Then we only needed to disconnect the servers in the old Data Centre and connect them in the new one. This saved an immense amount of downtime.”
DACPRO Installation Technician
On the day of the move the servers were decommissioned, securely packaged and transported to the new Data Centre.
Installation commenced; servers were installed, power supplies connected, cabling installed, labeled and patched in.
Placing switches or routers in the middle of the rack and stacking servers above and under the switch in the middle means we can use shorter interconnect cables, and save costs.
Routing and tucking the cable cords under the server fitted at the base of the rack is avoided as this would make it difficult to replace the server should it need to be removed for maintenance, upgrade or replacement.
Finally the main ISP connection was completed.
“Our expectation was that the installation downtime would be at least five days, We were impressed when the move was completed with just two days downtime.”
VP Global Network Infrastructure
The re-installation was completed with only 2 days of downtime rather than the 5 days the client expected.
Full documentation was provided ensuring future maintenance would be straightforward.
A Great Result
Through the use of the DACPros tried and tested installation methodology, coupled with a detailed work breakdown, the result was a much faster implementation. It allowed tasks to be carried out simultaneously and in advanced wherever possible.
The result was that the project was completed to the highest quality and within budget. This is attributed to very precise implementation of the plan with extreme attention to detail.
Customer network downtime for the move was only 2 days.
Next Steps
The success of the project led to DACPros being commissioned to provide their ‘Remote Hands’ service to troubleshoot and maintain this site as well as a number of other sites.
The re-installation was completed with only 2 days of downtime rather than the 5 days the client expected.
Full documentation was provided ensuring future maintenance would be straightforward.
Key Facts
Company: Global Content Delivery Network Services vendor
Infrastructure Location: UK
HQ Location: USA
Industry: Internet Technology
Turnover (2019): £2.9 billion
Employees: 7,257
Customer Challenges
- Requirement to install IT infrastructure in third party colocation data centre
- No locally based in-house resources which would mean flying over staff from USA
- Short implementation timescale
- Install with minimal network disruption
- Ability to provide long term maintenance
Objectives
- Completion with 5 days downtime
- Quality installation with well laid out, easy to maintain racks
- Fully documented installation
Why DACPros
The Right Choice
- DACPros delivers experienced IT infrastructure installation technicians
- A team that is geared to ensuring your computing equipment remains online and healthy at all times
Benefits
- Complete turnkey installation service from planning, project management, installation, testing, QA to documenting and reporting
- Accurate record of when and where equipment has been installed
- Unique numbered labelling of cabling interconnections
- Ongoing access to an in-country installation team providing a quality maintenance service
- Completed early and to budget to the highest quality standard
- Access to highly experienced and trained Data Centre Technicians for reliable ongoing IT infrastructure maintenance
- Minimal downtime
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