Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Migrating Storage
When it comes to actual migration, there are quite a few ways that data can be migrated,
and your service provider might offer you the method best suited to your exact situation.
This can vary depending on your current infrastructure, such as available bandwidth and
location. For example, if bandwidth and connection speed allow it, the migration can be
done over the network via the Internet. But if this would take a very long time and would
not be feasible, it would be faster to mail in all the data that needs to be migrated via
physical storage media.
Online vs. Offline Migrations
In this day and age a lot of activities are being done online, even data and application migra-
tion. But online migration is dependent on one factor: bandwidth. If an organization's current
infrastructure does not allow for such a large amount of data to be transferred within a speci-
fied time period, then online migration is simply not feasible. Most of the time, network pro-
viders would charge extra if data transfers go over the bandwidth utilization limit allotted for
the subscriber, but maybe with some negotiation a deal can be made that a specific amount of
data be allowed with an agreed-upon amount of payment. Online migration is the fastest and
most hassle-free method for migration if the infrastructure can handle it. But if there really is
no other way, then offline migrations would be appropriate.
Offline migration would be a hassle, but it could also become the cheaper alternative. What
this requires is that all of the data and applications that need to be migrated be consolidated
into physical storage media such as hard disks and then shipped to the service provider so that
they can upload it to their servers. The problem with this is bookkeeping, keeping track and
organizing the data that needs to be placed in hard disks and then making sure that at the
other end the correct data will be uploaded to the proper places. This requires the team doing
the data consolidation be present at the other end to ensure the correctness of the migration.
Together with the hardware and the manpower required for such an endeavor, the cost would
be a bit more than online migration if your infrastructure already allows for it. But if there
really is no choice, this might be the better method compared to upgrading your slow network
infrastructure and paying overcharges on your data subscriptions. Besides, it will not take
millions, probably a few thousand US dollars depending on the location of the service pro-
vider. If that happens to be in the same city or state, then the cost would probably be only for
gas and lunch money.
Physical to Virtual
Physical to virtual (P2V) migration is the process of decoupling a physical machine's soft-
ware component, which includes the operating system, data, and applications, and then
putting all of that into a virtual machine guest that is hosted on another physical machine.
It's like moving from a house into an apartment building. We liken physical computers to
houses because they are buildings separate from each other, while we liken the virtual envi-
ronment to an apartment building because you have multiple full living spaces in a single
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