SERVICES Finding the Best Approach

for Effcient, Non-Disruptive

Data Migration
WHITE PAPER
Get expert insight into the data migration process, including
the key benefts of various tools and methodologies.
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Explosive data growth, consolidation projects, and merger and acquisition
activity are driving the need for reliable, effcient, and non-disruptive data
migration implementationsoften in heterogeneous IT environments. While
several different types of tools are available to help organizations manage the
often complex and labor-intensive process, these organizations typically lack
the required resources or expertise.
For this reason, many organizations are engaging specialists to walk them
through each step in the data migration processfrom planning and
assessment through implementationensuring that data is migrated
successfully, cost-effciently, and non-disruptively. As a result, organizations
are able to meet the demands of data growth by seamlessly scaling capacity,
upgrading and deploying new storage networks, and consolidating data
centers. This paper addresses key factors in selecting the best comprehensive
option for specifc data migration requirements.
DYNAMIC GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION DRIVING DATA MIGRATION
Organizations are relying on new high-bandwidth, low-latency applications to run their core
business operations, communicate across global networks, and conduct services such as
payroll and accounts payable. In turn, they are building massive data center architectures to
support these new and powerful applications, putting unprecedented pressure on IT staffs
that are also being asked to cut costs and increase operational effciencies.
At the same time, data volumes continue to grow in the data center and on the edge of the
network and need to be stored, backed up, archived, and made available to a larger pool
of users and virtual applications. In addition, storage volumes are flling up as leases
expire, forcing organizations to reconsider their existing vendor relationships and storage
architecture options. As a result, storage equipment is being scaled, upgraded, or replaced
at an increasing rate.
To address these trends, many organizations are implementing data center consolidation
or entire data center moves in an effort to centralize data and infrastructure in a few main
facilities where they can be better managed, monitored, and protected. Virtualization
initiatives are helping to facilitate these hardware consolidation and upgrades, making data
center architectures more effcient, fexible, scalable, and powerful.
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Regardless of the reasons, organizations are fnding it increasingly necessary to move
massive amounts of data between systems, networks, and even facilities to accommodate
this explosive growth. Unfortunately, they are also fnding it an increasingly complex,
expensive, and disruptive process that requires much more time, resources, and expertise
than they expected. With the implications of potential downtime and millions of dollars in
lost opportunities, organizations have a vested interest in implementing reliable, fast, and
non-disruptive data migration solutionsensuring that architectural changes to the storage
environment do not impact users or business operations.
DATA MIGRATION AND THE NEED TO MINIMIZE DISRUPTIONS AND COMPLEXITY
Data migration solutions help organizations improve the mobility of their storage volumes,
allowing them to move information seamlessly between systems, data centers, and even
heterogeneous environments. A successful migration enables data center consolidation,
dynamic virtualization strategies, hardware upgrades, and the deployment of new
data center facilities.
However, data migration solutions can also be disruptive to users and applications. No matter
the system or business use, data needs to maintain its integrity before, during, and after a
migration, requiring some applications to shut down while volumes are synchronized. As a
result, downtime often needs to be built into systems that need to share data, requiring users
and applications to go offinea process that could hamper aggressive business continuity
strategies. Basic maintenance and confguration changes to the solutions also require
scheduled downtime, further disrupting the business.
Complexity is also an issue. Many organizations simply do not realize how much planning,
assessment, and labor is involved in migrating large volumes of dataespecially over
distance. Physical infrastructuresuch as routers and switcheshas to be mapped out,
deployed, and confgured. Cabling needs to be deployedwith great attention to the length
of cables and the use of patch panels. Organizations also need to consider whether the
migration can take place over an existing Fibre Channel connection, or if a pathway across
Fibre Channel and IP needs to be engineered.
In the case of data center relocation projects, the general layout of the new facility needs to
be mapped out, identifying the best design for arrays, servers, and networking equipment.
Then, once the planning and analysis is completed, the actual moving, setup, and
confguration of the new infrastructure needs to be physically constructed by the IT staff,
generating many new questions to analyze and answer:
How will equipment be delivered?
How will service levels be met while systems are offine?
Are data protection policies and compliance being met during the migration?
Should the migration take place all at once or in a piecemeal fashion?
Many IT managers often do not know the answers to these questions, and they might not
even know the questions to ask. As a result, many organizations conduct data migrations
before they are prepared, and do not realize the implications of the architectural change
until it is too late.
DRIVERS OF DATA MIGRATION
Moving or consolidating data centers
Hardware consolidation
Virtualization planning
Technology refreshes
Mergers and acquisitions
Deploying a new disaster recovery site
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DATA MIGRATION TOOLS
There are existing tools that help organizations implement their data migration strategies.
Some tools take an application-based approach to managing data migrations, requiring
software to be deployed on servers or on hosts in the storage environment. Other solutions
are housed on network appliances that leverage virtual technology to create and transfer
volume images between arrays. Still other solutions are hardware-based, leveraging
intelligence built directly into existing switches and routers to manage the seamless
movement of data.
Because every data migration tool and implementation is different, organizations need to
engage data migration service providers that help them select the right tool for their particular
storage environment, their SLAs, and their unique business objectives. Relying heavily on
best practices experience and expertise, service consultants can walk organizations
through each step in the processfrom planning and assessment through implementation
helping to ensure that data is migrated successfully, cost-effciently, and non-disruptively.
Below are several categories of data migration tools that organizations can employ to
successfully move large volumes of data.
Host-based Software
Volume management software can help organizations better plan, implement, and manage
data migrations. Typically already in use as part of an organizations storage management
software suite, these solutions do not require additional software or plug-ins, are reliable,
and support a wide variety of arrays. They also allow for seamless Logical Unit Number (LUN)
consolidation, streamlining an otherwise complex confguration process.
However, host-based software solutions siphon off CPU cycles, affecting the speed of the
migration. For a process that needs to be done quickly and in a non-disruptive manner, this
impact might be unacceptable. Host-based software also puts additional burden on the
server administration team, adding the performance monitoring of another IT process under
their responsibility.
Storage Array Software
On the other hand, storage array software does not affect performance, enabling fast,
reliable, and non-disruptive data migration implementations. And since the software resides
on the array, there is minimal host reconfguration required by administrative staff, which
simplifes and speeds up the process.
However, this type of data migration tool usually is limited to the arrays hardware brand
and model, preventing migrations between heterogeneous hardware devices. This limits the
architecture options, tying organizations to rigid hardware specifcations and forcing them
to use hardware that might be ill-suited to the business use of the data. In addition, storage
array software solutions have high licensing costs and require administrators to manually
install them on each array, adding unnecessary capital and operational expense to the data
migration process.
Virtualization Appliance
Many vendors have developed virtual data migration appliances that can be added to the
environment without degrading server CPU performance or locking organizations into a
single storage array vendor or model number. These solutions reside directly in the network
and create virtual source images that can seamlessly migrate the data to another array or
network. This virtual approach streamlines much of the host confguration process, helping to
facilitate fast, and most importantly, non-disruptive data migrations.
DATA MIGRATION DEFINED
Data migration is the process of
transferring data between storage types,
formats, or computer systems. Data
migrations can be conducted intra-data
center (between systems within a data
center) or inter-data center (between
data centers and usually over distance),
and they can also move data between
heterogeneous systems.
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However, the process of installing and confguring this type of data migration appliance is
extremely complex and labor-intensive, requiring the complete reconfguration of hosts and
storage arrays. Furthermore, there is a downside of more vendor lock-in, poor scalability, and
the diffculty of changing the virtualization solution.
Fabric/SAN-Based (Purpose-Built) Application Platform
Many organizations rely on intelligence built into their existing data center architecture to help
design, implement, and monitor data migrations. This agentless approach does not consume
host CPU cycles or bandwidth, allowing the migration to be completed reliably and quickly.
Because this approach leverages existing robust switch and router technology, it includes
wide storage array support, allowing for data to be moved between heterogeneous equipment.
The tools associated with this approach are also extremely scalable. Organizations can simply
leverage existing infrastructure with little or no additional confguration. Agents do not have
to be deployed and then confgured on hosts or servers, making it a simple and portable
solution that can be used wherever data needs to be moved.
DATA MIGRATION SERVICES
Having the right tool is a good frst step, but organizations often lack the resources and
expertise to perform a data migration. In an effort to simplify the process, make it more
cost-effective, and ensure that any migration is completed in a non-disruptive manner, many
organizations rely on service providers to lend their expertise and experience in implementing
successful data migration solutions.
These service providers help organizations choose the appropriate tool and walk them
through the assessment, planning, test, implementation, and validation stepsand assist
them in avoiding the issues discussed earlier. They not only serve as the eyes and ears of
the implementation, theyre also the hands, chipping in wherever needed and showing the
in-house staff best practices for planning, setting up, and implementing the solution.
A Complete, End-to-End Approach
Data migration service professionals need to be able to work with organizations throughout
the entire process, helping them plan and assess each implementation in advance. Then the
implementation needs to be validated and recorded, ensuring that the predicted changes
took place and that future deployments could be conducted just as smoothly. The fact is,
data migration is a complex procedure that takes expertise, staffng, and resources that many
organizations simply do not have. Often, organizations need to be walked through the entire
process, ensuring that they know the what, when, and how of implementing and monitoring
the solution.
In the same vein, organizations need a complete view of their IT infrastructuresa central
repository where monitoring and inventory information is collected and proposed changes to
the architecture are analyzed as a whole. Many data migration solutions fail to provide this
holistic view, so service providers must be able to analyze the available resources and tools
to make sure all basic requirements are met.
This complete, holistic approach ensures that organizations take all factors into account
when migrating large volumes of data, alleviating the risk that a simple architectural or
confguration error could derail the project. With hundreds or thousands of things that could
go wrong during a complex operation, it is essential that experts are available to identify and
prevent these issues.
KEY REQUIREMENTS OF A
DATA MIGRATION SERVICE
There are many things organizations
should consider when engaging data
migration service providers. Here are the
basic services that should be included:
Defne the project scope and
implementation schedule
Ensure that prerequisites for a
successful deployment are being met
Identify and allocate resources
Size the bandwidth needs and
implement a reliable connectivity
solution
Map the network topology
Create a migration project plan
Determine the impact of
implementation on data center
fabrics as well as the server and
application environments
Establish a contingency plan
Document new architectures
Perform and verify the migration
Decommission and uninstall
migration tools (for one-time
migrations)
Conduct a Transfer of
Information (TOI)
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High Performance to Ensure a Fast Migration
For performance reasons, it might be appropriate to use hardware-based data migration
services, relying on powerful data center infrastructure that is designed to move large
volumes of data. The faster the migration takes place, the sooner systems can become
operative on the target systems and users and applications are able to start accessing the
dataa key to implementing a minimally-disruptive solution.
As opposed to software-based solutions that require agents and drivers to be installed on hosts
and clients, high-performance switches and routers use hardware acceleration technology to
ensure fast, successful migrations of data between systems. While some vendors use 2 Gbit/sec
Fibre Channel switch technology, other services are starting to use 4 and 8 Gbit/sec technology,
providing enough throughput to ensure the fast migration of data.
Support for Both Online and Offine Migrations
Data migration service providers must support both online and offine migrations, making
sure that organizations have access to various solutions that meet their unique and changing
needs. Sometimes it makes sense to simply pack everything into a truck and rebuild the data
center in another location. Other times, a piecemeal approach is best to avoid any downtime.
It is up to the service provider to walk the organization through various options, identifying the
solution and strategy that best matches the specifc data migration project.
BROCADE DATA MIGRATION SERVICES
In an effort to help organizations meet these data migration challenges, Brocade

offers
end-to-end services for both online and offine migration of block-based data in mainframe
and open systems shared storage environments. Leveraging Brocade high-performance
switch and router technology, these services help ensure the reliable and fast migration
of data, minimizing disruption and reducing business risk.
The solutions offer full, non-blocking performance to speed the transfer of large volumes of data.
For migrations between distributed data centers, Brocade can help organizations build a robust
network infrastructure that provides high-speed migration capabilities over long distances.
By utilizing Brocade experts, organizations can relieve the burden and risks of data migration
even in the most complex shared storage environments. These experts help ensure that:
The appropriate resources are available and confgured for the migration
Equipment is compatible throughout the environment
Data protection policies are being met
Service levels are consistent
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CONCLUSION
Data growth is exploding, causing many organizations to upgrade their storage environments,
scale capacity, and build larger, more-powerful data centers. That data then has to be
migrated to the new systems in a cost-effcient, manageable, and non-disruptive manner.
Existing data migration solutions do not always provide the support, expertise, or resources
organizations need to successfully migrate large data volumesespecially over distance.
The process is simply too time-consuming and complex. There are many tools available to
help organizations successfully move large volumes of data, but many organizations are now
looking to service providers to help them through the process.
Brocade service professionals leverage best-practice methodologies, feld-proven experience,
and expertise to walk organizations through the entire process, taking every contingency
into account during the assessment, planning, implementation, and documentation stages.
Completed quickly and non-disruptively, successful data migrations allow organizations to
upgrade their storage networks, scale capacity, consolidate hardware and data centers, and
take advantage of next-generation virtualization strategies.
To learn more about Brocade data migration solutions, visit www.brocade.com/data_migration.
WHITE PAPER
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