Switching Data Centers - Challenges

kinu008 · Post by **kinu008** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 7:27 pm

Hi all,

We are in the process of switching our data centers for better service.
We are currently on DataStage 8.1 as of FP1, UNIX - Server Edition.

Our topology:
Engine tier, Metadata repository tier (Oracle) resides on host 'DVETL1'
Websphere App Server resides on host 'DVETL2'

Our new data center folks took images of 'DVETL1' and 'DVETL2', and then restored the images to the new servers called 'DVETL1' and 'DVETL2'. Please note that the new servers at the new data center are still being called with the same exact names as the old data centers.

I still haven't gotten a chance to play with the new servers yet but I have this basic question. Is it even possible to deploy the images to a new servers at a different location and can successfully make it work?

What kind of challenges would I face to make it work? I would appreciate if any one can share their valuable experiences.

Thank you,
Kiran

qt_ky · Post by **qt_ky** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:08 am

Yes, it is possible. There are teams in IBM and other companies that do data server migrations every single weekend. They have specialized software for the imaging. The most important thing is for you and your team to test it thoroughly ASAP post-migration.

priyadarshikunal · Post by **priyadarshikunal** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:30 am

A full server image can be restored to another server, you need to make sure you take a complete image. Copying storage only may not work.

priyadarshikunal · Post by **priyadarshikunal** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:40 am

and yes there are few thing which must not change, one of them is hosts file which has the host name for that server.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:22 am

What about the IP address? I thought that if that changed it could be a problem as it is embedded in the product in several places... I think.

kinu008 · Post by **kinu008** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:01 am

Thanks all for the positive replies... Its very encouraging...

I will make sure that host names are unchanged in the host files... BUT IP addresses in the host files will definitely change. I believe the host names are embedded in the product, not the IP addresses. But please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Happy Friday.

PaulVL · Post by **PaulVL** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 11:46 am

Any firewall ports between your client machines and your servers?
Those tend to be forgotten at times.

qt_ky · Post by **qt_ky** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 2:14 pm

I really doubt that the IP address is embedded anywhere in the software. We have changed IP addresses on our servers without incident.

As PaulVL mentioned, there should be firewall concerns, and also between your Information Servers and all other computers communicating to and from--clients and other servers (FTP, database, MQ, web services, etc.).

IP address changes could require a lot of firewall rule changes.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:29 pm

qt_ky wrote:I really doubt that the IP address is embedded anywhere in the software. We have changed IP addresses on our servers without incident.

Yah my bad, went back and searched for some of the topics I thought I was remembering on the subject and it is the host names that are the key.

kinu008 · Post by **kinu008** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:44 am

Thank you for the wonderful replies...

I was able to successfully restart the DataStage on the image servers... It was pretty straightforward.