Checklist · free
Data center migration readiness checklist
For IT leaders planning a data center relocation, consolidation or exit: the questions to answer before a move date is set.
Drivers and ownership
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 1 | What is driving the move (lease, consolidation, merger or facility risk), and what is the date? | The driver and the date set the scope and the pace. |
| 2 | Who is the executive sponsor, and what result would they count as success? | Moves without a sponsor stall when trade-offs arise. |
| 3 | Who signs off on move windows and on each application's move? | Unclear sign-off delays move day. |
Inventory and documentation
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 4 | How many sites, racks, physical and virtual servers and storage platforms are involved? | You can't plan move groups for an estate you can't count. |
| 5 | How current are your inventories, rack elevations, floorplans and network diagrams? | Plans built on old documents fail on move day. |
| 6 | Are power and cross-connect details documented for the current site? | They drive gaining-site design and cabling. |
| 7 | Are your disaster recovery and business continuity plans current? | They are your fallback if a move goes wrong. |
Applications and dependencies
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 8 | Does every application in scope have a named owner? | Owners know the dependencies and approve testing. |
| 9 | Are shared databases, data feeds, batch jobs and load balancers mapped for each application? | Hidden dependencies are the most common move-day surprise. |
| 10 | Which services cannot go down, and how much downtime can other services tolerate? | Tolerance sets move groups and windows. |
| 11 | Does critical knowledge sit with one or two people? | A single absence can stall a move event. |
| 12 | Which vendors must recertify or support equipment and applications after the move? | Recertification needs lead time and planning. |
Gaining site
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 13 | Has the gaining site been chosen, and is it owned, colocation, cloud or a mix? | Many plans depend on the destination. |
| 14 | Are power, space, connectivity and resilience requirements written down and agreed? | Requirements defined late lead to gaps at the new site. |
| 15 | Are carrier and network requirements known, with their lead times? | Circuits often set the earliest possible move date. |
| 16 | Will the gaining site be ready and tested before the first move event? | An unready site turns a move into an outage. |
Security and risk
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 17 | When were the systems that are moving last scanned for vulnerabilities, and which are out of vendor support? | Moving unknown weaknesses carries them to the new site. |
| 18 | Who will have access during the migration, including third parties, and how will that access be removed afterward? | Temporary access is often left open. |
| 19 | What security controls must the new site meet before go-live? | Validation criteria must exist before the move, not after. |
Move planning
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|
| 20 | Are move groups based on dependencies rather than rack location? | Moving dependent systems apart breaks services. |
| 21 | Will runbooks, validation and rollback plans be tested in dry runs before move day? | Rehearsal finds problems while they are cheap to fix. |
| 22 | Is there a communications and escalation plan, with someone coordinating all teams and vendors? | Move day needs one point of control. |
| 23 | Is post-move support agreed, along with decommissioning and clean-up of the old site? | The move isn't finished until the old site is closed out. |
How to read your result
- Mostly "yes": you are ready to set a move date with confidence.
- Gaps in Applications and dependencies: close these first. They cause most move-day surprises.
- Gaps in Gaining site: the date may be set by the new site, not by you.
- Many "don't know" answers: start with discovery and dependency mapping before you commit to a date.
If you found gaps, or a lot of “don’t know” answers, contact Kalosys today, before you commit to a move date. Your note goes straight to our data center migration team.
