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Tips to Consider Before You Begin a Data Migration Project

February 28, 2008

Today's data-storage landscape has been shaped by a confluence of evolving realities: On the one hand, data storage has become both more reliable and drastically less expensive, while at the same time government- and industry-ordained regulatory compliance initiatives have made data storage a stringent requirement for companies of all sizes.

Additionally, companies have to stay on top of new and emerging technologies, or they risk becoming virtually obsolete in their competitive field. As such, theyre continually looking toward the latest data-storage media and migrating away from some of their more legacy storage environments, while also consolidating their stored data onto more centrally located, homogeneous data hubs.

With data storage now more important than ever, and with the sheer, nearly choking amounts of data now being stored by companies worldwide, data migration has become one of the hottest market segments of the information technology (IT) industry. Companies are increasingly looking to keep current with storage trends.

"There are a variety of reasons why a company may require a data migration of some kind, but the reality is that data migrations are an ongoing thingone of our customers referred to it as 'data Tetris'," said Nigel Burmeister, director of product marketing for data solutions for Seattle, Wash.-based F5 Networks, which sought to strengthen its position in the data migration space in late 2007 with its acquisition of Acopia Networks, Inc.

"We often see things like lease rolloversmoving data off of the old stuff onto the new stuffor we'll assist with vendor transitions, and sometimes there are disruptive platform upgrades where you have to move data off a device, upgrade the device itself, and then move the data back onto it. And, of course, there are consolidation projects, moving from many discrete file servers to fewer large servers or network attached storage (NAS) devices to cut power consumption, reduce rack space and lower management complexity."

Migration Considerations
Companies must take into account a considerable number of variables when planning the best data consolidation strategy to suit their business. Strategies can vary from industry to industry, from a big picture vantage point, and they can become meticulous in the details as differing storage devices, operating systems and applications are taken into account.

One of the top consolidation/data migration considerations companies need to reflect on is to ascertain what level of downtime to their IT infrastructure theyre willing or able to endure. If a company can afford a considerable window of downtime, they can find more data-migration solutions in the market that are also typically more affordable than those solutions designed to perform data migrations with a bare minimum of inconvenience. The less downtime a company can afford to endure, the more expensive and complex data migrations are likely to be.

"A basic question companies need to ask is: 'What's the tolerance for disruption?'" said Burmeister. "There are many solutions available to move data with, but they can be really disruptive to use if you're doing data migration manually. So, typically, you can't access data while you're moving it. Generally speaking, it really depends on the size and scale of a migration or consolidation initiative. The bigger the migration, the bigger the window of disruption is required. Companies have to decide what kind of window they're comfortable with and schedule and plan accordingly."

Another aspect to consider is how much manual intervention or resources you have available to dedicate to a migration or consolidation, because a comprehensive consolidation can be manually intensive, and a company may lack the personnel and hardware and software resources necessary to conduct the entire operation without some sort of outside assistance or consultation. Much can change in an IT environment during the migration process.

According to Burmeister, data-consolidation projects can often involve a restructuring of the data layout, and it's imperative companies have an idea of what's involved in the transition and what to expect once it's complete.

"What companies often discover is that the process can be very manually intensive," said Burmeister. "They find that it requires a lot of unexpected changes: Mount points, drive mappings, log-in scripts, they can all change rather dramatically; links in documents can be potentially broken and a whole lot of other unforeseen problems can crop up. Companies have to assess whether they have the resources in-house to deal with those eventualities."

Migration Misconception
A common misconception companies have when it comes to consolidation and data migration is the belief that its as easy as it sounds. Migrating or moving data often doesnt appear that difficult on its face, but practically every company has storage infrastructures that are varied and unique and require an in-depth understanding before a migration or consolidation can be attempted.

Although a migration can sound as simple as moving files from one device to another, what companies often find is different file systems and implementations have unique capabilities, and it can be a tricky proposition to select a solution that can adequately deal with the differing requirements of those disparate devices.

"There often are different capabilities and attributes that are unique to different devices," said Burmeister. There are things you may not even pause to consider right away multi-protocol permissions, owners and attributes, Unicode support, etc. there are all these different capabilities that different file systems have, so you have to ensure a data migration and consolidation solution can handle those differences in an elegant way and not lose those different settings and attributes along the way."

Less Pain, More Gain
Other considerations must be taken into account when moving toward a data consolidation initiative and, as Burmeister points out, its difficult, if not impossible, to consider every possibility. But, through careful planning and consideration, a company is more likely to head off some of the most unpleasant pain points, and in the end enjoy the benefits of a consolidated data storage solution that features a smaller overall footprint, less complexity and a lower cost of operation and management.

"A consolidated data environment definitely has its advantages," said Burmeister. "There are data migration approaches and solutions available for almost every situation, provided a company does its research and knows their limitations and their capabilities."