Following the sale of assets, Client was required to move out of its existing data centers and migrate its applications and data to new facilities. Metagyre was contracted to plan, design, build out and bring Client on-line in their two new collocation centers. The new site in Reston, Virginia replaced the services provided by the Boston data center and a Tukwilla, Washington location replaced the Seattle data center.

This project consisted of building out two new collocation centers, deploying network, server and storage equipment followed by migrating services and bringing them on-line. Client’s business required that the equipment, applications and data move without disrupting their 24×7 service.

Client uses a number of technologies to deliver world class metasearch services to their customers. These include: NetApp storage, Cisco, Checkpoint, Netscaler, HP Storage, HP Blades, Netezza, VMware, Linux, MS Windows 200X, MS SQL, Oracle, MS Exchange, Active Directory, SAP.

Design and Build Out

• Aid in the selection of two collocation facilities.
• Design and build out the new facilities including structured cabling, electrical distribution and internet connectivity.
• Design rack layouts, server placement and port assignments.
• Manage the procurement and deployment of network, storage and server equipment into the new data center.
• Schedule and manage all professional services and sub-contracts for activities requiring third party activities or equipment purchases. Professional services included the configuration of new networks, storage assignments and virtualization services.
• Plan application and data move tasks for all applications within the two data centers including the test and roll back plans for each.
• Secure stakeholder buy off for each of the applications (owned or shared by multiple stake holders).
• Test core data center infrastructure, redundant power and networking.
• Stage, test and verify networks, servers and storage as operational.

System Migration
Mission critical application data was replicated to the new facility and kept in synchronization until the system was cut over. The application servers (95% virtualized at 1300 servers), were migrated using VMware capabilities in conjunction with their supporting data and shared systems (SQL Server, Oracle, Exchange, LDAP, FTP, DNS). Because of the complexities and interrelationships of the applications and data, this move required a complete data center cut over. For each data center (applications, data, middleware, shared systems) the applications were migrated electronically over the network, brought up, synchronized, tested and run in parallel before bringing the data center into production. In order to remove risk, as each new data center was brought online, traffic loads were managed and monitored to ensure quality. Load steps were set at 5%, 20%, 50%, 75% and 100% with mitigation and go/no go decisions established for each one.

Following the migration of the two data centers’ client facing production services, the back office and reporting systems were brought on line allowing Client to continue to provide world class metasearch capabilities without experiencing any customer down time.

Obstacles
After scheduling out the two data center build outs and migrations, it became evident the time line exceeded Client’s contractual commitment to vacate their current data centers. Metagyre proposed rescheduling activities to build out both data centers concurrently. Client accepted the recommendation to their original plan to build out the data centers one at a time. The dual data center build out approach allowed Client to complete the project ahead of their vacate commitments.

Project Summary
Client’s data centers were successfully relocated in less than the originally budgeted amount and time frame. By optimizing activities across the two data centers in parallel, Metagyre was able to reduce the time line without adding additional risk to the project. Following the move, Client has continued to expand its online metasearch services by taking advantage of the physical and virtual service growth plan developed by Metagyre.

Metagyre was engaged to develop the return on investment analysis for consolidating Client’s seven data centers and then move their main data center from one Seattle, WA. location which they had out grown to a new Seattle location. The project consisted of selecting and building out a new 6,000 sf data center followed by moving their equipment and applications into the new facilities. Their computational environment included 1,000+ virtual and physical servers, 1.5 petabytes of EMC storage, mainframe, tape backup and Cisco network. Client’s main data center supports their entire on-line e-commerce mission critical applications and approximately 200 different systems. Client’s business required that the equipment, applications and data move without disrupting their 24×7 ability to accept and fulfill revenue generation.

Client uses a number of technologies to deliver world class on-line services to their customers. These included: EMC Storage, Cisco, Checkpoint, F5, IBM Mainframe, IBM Storage, IBM Blade Centers, IBM xSeries, HP servers, HP Storage, Sun Solaris, VMware, Linux, Microsoft Windows 200X, MS SQL, Oracle, and Microsoft Exchange.

Design and Build Out
Metagyre partnered with Client’s senior management to structure the project and budget required to complete the data center design, procurement and build out. The major components we developed in this stage included:

• Technical site reviews and contract redline activities side by side with Client’s senior management.
• Design and build out the new data center facility including structured cabling, electrical and floor layouts.
• Design,procure and integrate network connectivity for the new data center and build a dark fiber backbone back to their existing main data center.
• Source and develop criteria for selecting sub-contractors as well as working with sub-contractors to design and implement power, fire suppression, cooling, lighting and structured cabling.
• Extend the network across the two data center sites.
• Designate rack layouts, server placement, port assignments and in-rack cable standards.
• Lead workshops with client staff and EMC to establish SAN and storage requirements, procurement contracts and implementation.
• Secure stakeholder agreement of plans, designs and procurements.
• Schedule and manage all professional services and sub-contracts for activities requiring third party activities or equipment purchases.
• Test core data center infrastructure, redundant power and networking.
• Stage, test and verify seed servers and storage.

System Migration
Metagyre worked with Client’s system engineers to develop the detailed plans to formalize application and data move tasks. These detailed plans called short interval schedules included test, go/no go and roll back procedures for each component of the application. We engaged the stakeholders to gain plan approvals and schedule around business needs. Metagyre engineered and implemented several unique migration strategies based on complex system and data business requirements.

Client’s virtual machines were migrated using VMware’s VMotion over the dark fiber backbone and reintroduced into production running on an ESX cluster in the new data center. In the case of redundant physical clusters, the cluster was split, one of the servers brought up in the new data center to re-establish the cluster and then the cluster was failed over to the server in the new data center.

By advancing the purchases of other project’s planned equipment refreshes, the seed equipment was acquired with minimal additional cost. The seed equipment was staged as necessary in the new data center prior to system migration. Following the migration of a system, the equipment in the old data center was moved to the new data center to serve as the seed equipment for the next system.

Obstacles
Client’s systems are tied closely to high profile events such as the Grammys, World Cup, and breaking news. Metagyre’s responsibility was to develop a flexible migration schedule that could respond quickly to Client’s business needs. When changes in world events dictated a scheduled migration had to be placed on hold, we were able to substitute and fill the schedule with another system migration container. Metagyre’s migration process allowed Client to retain the flexibility needed to meet changing business requirements while meeting the scheduled end date.

Project Summary
The main Client data center was successfully relocated within the allotted time frame and budget while maintaining the business continuity needs of their enterprise. Following the move, older equipment whose services were migrated to new seed gear was repurposed in support of their development and test environments or to expand disaster recovery capacity.

With this data center move and system migration, Client was able to significantly lower their monthly costs by consolidating the number of sites managed and increase the capabilities they provided to their internal business customers through its improved design features.