Data Center Relocation Checklist
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Relocating a datacenter is a high-stakes project that demands precision, planning, and deep technical coordination. Whether you’re consolidating infrastructure, exiting a legacy site, or expanding into a new facility, this checklist will help you stay on track.
It’s designed to guide your internal teams through each phase of the move, from early planning and auditing to execution and post-relocation validation. Use it to align stakeholders, reduce downtime risk, and ensure nothing critical slips through the cracks.
For more complex moves or mission-critical environments, our relocation engineers are available to help you plan and execute with confidence.
Pre-Planning
- Identify key business drivers and define success metrics
- Appoint internal stakeholders and a dedicated project manager
- Draft project charter with timeline, communication plan, and escalation path
- Assess contractual obligations & SLAs (co-location, ISP, maintenance)
- Perform risk assessment: downtime, data loss, regulatory impact, compliance
Current Site Inventory & Audit
- Complete detailed hardware & software inventory (servers, racks, cables, licenses)
- Map application dependencies and inter-application flows
- Record power/cooling requirements and rack layouts
- Understand network topology: VLANs, IPs, VPNs, carrier uplinks
- Review warranties, support contracts, and hardware lifecycle status
Destination Site Readiness
- Survey new site: confirm racks, power, cooling, airflow
- Ensure network cross-connects, uplinks, and carrier options are ready
- Validate physical/logical security, remote hands availability
- Load test power & cooling; verify sensors and monitoring
- Finalize access windows and delivery logistics
Pre-Move Preparation
- Group equipment by priority and dependencies
- Label all hardware, ports, cables, and flow circuit paths
- Backup critical data, VM images, and configurations
- Pre-purchase/verify availability of spare cabling & parts
- Arrange insurance and establish chain-of-custody documentation
- Build shutdown/startup plans and rollback procedures
- Coordinate communications with users, vendors, and carriers
Move Execution
- Secure de-racking, packing, and transport (GPS-tracked, climate-controlled)
- Ensure labeling remains intact for each transport item
- Reinstall hardware per rack drawings and cabling maps
- Power-up sequence aligned with the startup plan
- Test network, applications, IP routing, DNS, VPNs
Post-Relocation Validation
- Validate system performance, connectivity, and SLAs
- Confirm redundancy, backups, and disaster recovery postures
- Update documentation: diagrams, rack locations, inventory
- Perform final rack audits and compliance checks
- Decommission or dispose of old hardware securely
- Capture lessons learned and conclude the project