GUIDING PRINCIPLE 2

Guiding Principle 2: Define the new storage environment and develop a phased data migration plan to ensure a successful outcome

BUSINESS CHALLENGE: Transitioning from legacy storage solutions to futureproofed flash platforms requires thorough design and planning. Next-generation platforms must meet long-term performance and scalability requirements and fit with established administrative systems and practices.

A successful transition requires thorough design and planning. This starts with the workload and data priorities and performance risks gathered in the discovery phase (Principle 1). These factors get rolled into the specification for next-generation all-flash storage platforms. That starts from technical, functional and business requirements and is combined with a deep understanding of the capabilities of the new platform to produce architectural guidelines. Platform understanding is key to accurately addressing the long-term scalability, performance, reliability and supportability requirements. Thorough planning is A complete picture depends on collaboration with critical for a successful other functional organizations. All contributors must be accounted for to ensure data center networking transition infrastructure, security solutions and administrative systems and processes are updated to support the new storage implementation. HPE Pointnext has seen • The actual moving of data constitutes only 5% that this frequently requires revising provisioning of the migration effort and support systems and workflows. For example, – Source: HPE Internal Study ensuring new storage platforms comply with corporate security policies and data privacy mandates.

As mentioned in Principle 1, a phased data migration plan will prioritize applications that benefit most from the new storage architecture. The plan should build in proof of concepts and pilots to define best practices and build confidence. Migration is often regarded as risky, so this reduces risk and removes uncertainty.

Best practices include standardizing and automate the migration processes through cookbooks and scripting. Since this is a one-time migration, external specialists can simplify the process. Be sure to define success criteria and create a formal acceptance test plan. Well-designed plans usually specify that the transition executes in waves to minimize staffing impact and avoid business disruption.

Checklist:

1. Engage business teams and functional organizations early and often to gain mindshare and support.

2. Design a new storage environment that satisfies long-term technical, business, operational and data security/privacy requirements.

3. Develop a phased data migration strategy that includes proof-of-concepts and pilots to ensure success.

4. Create cookbooks and scripts to streamline the transition.

Expected Results

Future-proof all-flash storage architecture that delivers superior performance, reliability and economics.

Prioritized data migration plan that aligns with business requirements and minimizes disruption and risks.

Automated, validated tools and pilot-refined processes that accelerate full-scale transition.

Specify all-flash architecture

Scalability Reliability Supportability

Ensuring a smooth and successful transition

Develop phased data migration plan Automate the transition

POC Pilot Production Cookbooks Scripts