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The first step for any good plan of a relocation is to access the exact equipment and infrastructure in the current location, and a survey of the current environment will reveal especially in big environments that there are many more items like 2 computers per person, or a personal Fax/printer attached locally, etc, that need to be part of the move, just because the end user needs it in the new location as well.
Since Equipment is bought from departmental budgets, some times it is not part of the recorded inventory that's used on a day to day basis.
The new layout should be based on a departmental plan, to be reviewed by the department head for comments, as locating people an sometimes influence status within a department and company.
Need to take into consideration as one of the first steps, because sometimes needs to be associated with plan changes, of walls etc. The cabling and patching should be done a head of the move planning and take into considerations future needs, like better cabling that can accommodate more bandwidth.
Servers, routers that serve many users, need nowadays FDDI drops, as well as switches that support VLAN'S.
The current location is using connectivity that evolved and kept changing to accommodate increasing needs.
The new location can be planned to accommodate for future needs without it costing enormous, to upgrade constantly.
There is a need to order before hand the right amount of analog lines, and or Internet connectivity,
Some businesses take advantage of the move to upgrade to IP telephony instead of reinstalling an archaic Analog/PBX, the technology is available right now and the features IP Telephony systems contain are equivalent to those of Analog systems without the need for administrating and maintaining 2 disparate systems. The networking infrastructure can now support the Telephony as well.
Some businesses take advantage of the move planning, to get rid of old systems that will not be moved as well as buying new more powerful equipment that will consolidate the functions of the old equipment.
Some businesses take advantage of the move planning to get rid of old Hubs, Routers, and switches that are no more supported, and were around just because they are paid for already. Those are the kind of that will not be moved, as well as taking the opportunity of buying new more powerful equipment that will consolidate the functions of the old equipment.
Some businesses take advantage of the move planning to get rid of old systems that will not be moved as well as buying new more powerful equipment that will consolidate the functions of the old equipment.
Some businesses take advantage of the move planning to get rid of old systems that will not be moved as well as buying new more powerful equipment that will consolidate the functions of the old equipment.
Labeling the equipment for the move is crucial for being able to re-setup the right equipment for the right users, locations.
Some companies name computers and servers as per location, relocation requires changing computers names, IP's DNS server that those computers will use, default Gateways, etc. Those changes usually are done while disconnecting from old environment, not to disrupt production till the last minute.
2.1.1 Labeling
It can be done before the move but since companies name computers and servers as per location, relocation requires changing computers names, so the computer if labaeled a long time before the move, will still need new labeling, to reflect the name assigned when in the new location
2.1.2 Renaming
The computer if labeled a long time before the move, will still need new labeling, to reflect the name assigned when in the new location if the location needs to be relected in the naming convention.
2.1.3 IP Changes before shutdown
The computer will be connected after the relocation to a new segment of the internal network, if static IP's are used then it is recommended to change the IP when changing the name for the move, this way when it is restarted in the new location, it is connected automatically, and saves the reboot after IP changes in the new location, in a big environment, doing all the changes at once and avoiding lengthy reboots, can be a big time saver.
2.2.1 Unpacking and setting up
The computer as well as other peripherals to belong to a certain user will have to be setup by the team that took it down in the old location, and each computer connected need to be signed off, and reported to the central reporting/Help Desk center, where open issues, should be collected and dispatched to the right personnel for resolution. It is very common, that an extra patching is needed because the user has more peripherals to connect etc.
2.2.2 Testing connectivity
In the new location computer need to be tested by the team member that reconnected it, there should be a list of basic connectivity tests to perform to a specific departmental server, or a critical applications that the users must use right away.
2.2.3 Remapping to new renamed/located server
In the new location, the computer need to be connected to the servers that were moved either as part of a departmental move , or to an enterprise wide application, some of the old mappings will not work in the new location, and have manually to be remapped. Some of the new mappings will be common to all the users and can be pushed to them when first logging, by using policies or SMS software, but some mappings are to be recreated individually per user.
2.2.4 Remapping to new printers
The computer when in he new location wil probably need to be apped to the closest printer at the new location, some print manger softwares, will find the closest printer to be setup for he user, but some users need to work with specific printers, because of a specific application that they use and need to create a hard copy of a transaction that they performed, this requires manual mapping of the specific printer to the workstation.
The infrastructure need to be planned and setup before the move day, and need to be tested/certified to avoid last minute issues, if labeled a long time before the move, can be reviewed by the different entities involved. This will need to be a combined effort, of the departments as well as the technical staff as per capacity needed, room for servers, routers, switches locations, whether on each floor or remotely in a data center serving the entire organization, some services, like file and print servers, departmental servers for unique applications need to be as close as possible to the end user, so there is a need for infrastructure planning that includes the cabling as well. The earlier this is planned and exercised, the less costly it is, last minute changes that can involve drilling and moving internal walls, done the last minute are costly.
3.1.1 End user support
The end user computer, need to have a flyer attached to it direcing the user to the helpdesk team, phone number, this will probably be different than the regular help desk number that people use, since usually there is a team setup for the temporary secific tickets related to the move.
3.1.2 Networking support
The support team working to resolve computer issues, must include also a Networking engineer, since sometimes familiarity with the network will speed up resolving issues.
3.1.3 Cabling/patching support
The support team working to resolve computer issues, must include also a cabling technician, since sometimes patching is needed to reslve issues, or the wrong port is used if labeled a long time before the move.
Note: Site Survey forms and services to accomplish these tasks are available through EIA, Inc. Contact George Engel 212-206-8870 or gengel@eia.us
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