Data Center Decommissioning – A “How-To” Guide

What is data center decommissioning?

A data center is a physical place where a company’s sensitive applications and data are kept centrally. The data center is designed in such a way that applications and data are distributed through computer networking by a shared delivery. Traditionally it used to be on-premises.

In modern data centers, data centers have shifted to cloud-based centers keeping the distribution of data in the same way. Through these virtual networks, multiple data centers are connected.

Why are data centers needed?

Data centers help IT businesses to support and make their service more effective. It helps IT businesses in sharing email and files, maintain relations with customers, to plan resources and databases.

Functioning of data centers

Data centers help in protecting the performance and integrity of the core data center components. It has network security appliances to protect from viruses and malware. It also helps in maintaining application performance.

Infrastructure of the data center

A significant infrastructure will be required to support the center’s hardware and software. Whether virtual or physical data center, setting up will require power subsystems, uninterruptible power supplies, ventilation, cooling equipment, fire suppressors, backup generators, and connections to external networks. Mainly, to run a data center, will require network infrastructures for connecting servers, storage infrastructure is essential as data is very important for any business, and computing resources are also required to drive applications.

Therefore, data center decommissioning refers to the removal of data centers items.it can be the removal of equipment from on-site premises to a virtual network which means the physical infrastructures will be removed from the company’s premises. It is known to remove data center hardware for relocation, resale, recycling, or disposal while rerouting data to new servers. A company’s data center is considered very important for business operations. A company’s data are sensitive, the decommissioning process requires thorough planning and careful execution. It’s includes dismantling hardware, rewiring network cables, and installing new servers. To get started with the decommissioning process, IT administrators must draft a detailed Data Centre Decommission Project Plan and a Data Centre Decommissioning Checklist. These two documents will ensure smooth decommissioning without disrupting business operations.

Following are the reasons why a company would prefer to do data center decommission:

• If the company’s assets have been outdated and want to update to a new version of the device.
• If the company’s device has been damaged and required replacement.
• If the company’s devices are no longer compatible with a cloud server, it has chosen.
• If the company wants to provide better services, it, therefore, is required to change infrastructures.
• Improving security facilities can also be a reason.
• If the company wants to relocate its data center.
• If the company want to restructure their data center connectivity.
• If the company wants to adopt advanced devices.
• If the company wants to reduce costs.
• If the company no longer requires certain parts of the data center.
• If the company wants to increase its business.
• If the company wants to reduce its size.
• Destruction of data centers, removal, and relocation of servers still in use.
• Data sorting and removing old data that will no longer be required.

Benefits of data center decommissioning

Following are some reasons why it is beneficial for the company:

• After decommissioning of data, data is dispositioned. When an asset is dispositioned, the asset is sold in the secondary market and therefore a value is received as reselling.
• Decommissioning helps the company to move ahead of its peers in terms of software. Along with this gaining a little profit along the way.
• Using this way, data in the data drives are getting sanitized which means that there is a secure future.

The data center must operate under strict regulatory compliance standards, especially for cloud services. Choosing a vendor to decommission your data center and work with a professional who specializes in asset disposition and electronic waste. Therefore, your data is not only safe but also meets the required standards for data protection regulations. Afterward, you’ll not be having any worry about data leaking.

How to do a data center decommissioning

Step 1: Familiarizing

This step is necessary as parts of data center of the whole data center are being replaced. If every aspect relating to decommissioning is not organized properly then there are chances of incurring loss since the data center handles lots of data thus, this data what are helps the IT perform its function and achieve its goal. Therefore, it is necessary to move in an organized way to incur as minimum loss as possible.

Before physically moving anything, communicate with respective stakeholders and professionals involved with decision-making. Communicate why decommissioning is required and gather insights regarding the topic. After finalizing the decision, maintain follow-ups. Depending upon the purpose, assign the project to the project manager if available or forward it to the respective manager who is assigned to handle projects.

Then, plan the budget. A planning budget is necessary to bring an estimate of the expense and profit for the decommissioning. 

Calculate an estimated number of days required to successfully carry out the process. Creating an estimate will prevent the required actions to get delayed which otherwise would incur costs more than the estimated value.

It is better to come up with a list of steps or procedures which will enlist every step from the beginning of the action till disposition to prevent any step from missing out. List of responsibilities along with the employee’s name. If responsibility is delegated and mentioned, then it will be very clear which areas are not looked after and there will be no clash of responsibility.

As much as it is necessary to communicate with managers, it is also necessary to communicate with team members. This way, progress can be monitored.

Depending on the company, selectively choose hours to perform decommissioning to incur a minimum loss. Decide beforehand how to manage the network while decommissioning.

Before completely disconnecting the network, run some trials to understand the effect better.

Humans make mistakes. If the employees are familiar with the process, then there are chances of fewer errors. Since the data center involves several wires so it is necessary to be familiar with the systems as well to avoid loss.

When performing a drill or demo before the actual date, check the discrepancies and improve the steps. Also, it is necessary to keep safety in check since it involves electronic equipment.

If no one is having expertise then it will benefit if an expert is hired.

Update asset map and finalize an updated environment map.

Lastly, fair out the planning. Fairly, list out responsibility against employee’s name, schedules. Call a last meeting before the big day. Layout downtime. Keep tools ready before the big day and ensure everything is ready and nothing important is missing out.

If the company chose to outsource the service, the run background checks of external personnel as decommissioning involving handling the company’s sensitive data.

Clearly list out the parts of the data center that are required to be decommissioned and make the internal personnel or external personal familiar with the list.

Step 2: Decommissioning

After everything is scheduled and responsibilities are allotted, the company would need to focus on the part of securing data. Before starting the process of decommissioning make data is in backup to avoid data loss or need to go through the data recovery process.

Also, test your disaster recovery plan. Run every backup to confirm that data in the backup is still accessible. To avoid any mishap from electricity, disconnect the parts to be decommissioned from power. Along with the parts of the data center, degauss any previous drives if required. Before engaging with a third party, ensure the authenticity of the vendors to avoid worry in the future. Also, document erasure made by either external personnel o internal personnel. Make sure that the company documents every destruction of hardware to be safe in the future.

Step 3: Disposition

After decommissioning comes disposition. In this step, equipment is moved. If you wish to choose any sub-part then make sure to keep them well packed to avoid getting mixed with the trash and also to avoid any harm to any personnel.

Since the addition of any asset or removal of addition brings a change in financial records, it is important to inform the financial department about any changes in assets.

It is very important nowadays to take care of the environment. It is not possible for any company to fully utilize or recycle every last bit of e-waste and not every vendor needs to recycle the remaining destructed parts. It is necessary also that everyone contributes to the environment.

If the vendor does not recycle then the company can choose some other company to carry out the recycling process.

Conclusion

Every company has different requirements and therefore, a company should plan accordingly. It is quite similar to any other form of data destruction but instead, the data devices are removed in parts. Along with this, data drives are also resold in the secondary market.