# Physically moving servers **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [November 5, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265 "2012-11-05T16:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/1 "2012-11-05T16:39:06Z")
Hi all: Our main office is moving to a new building. I of course have to move all our servers. We use DL385 G1 and G2. As part of the move, I am installing new racks and rail systems so all I have to do is disconnect the servers, slide them out of the rack at our old location, move them and slide them into the new rack and hook them back up. I will have all cabling in the racks pre-installed and new UPSs too. I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan is to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am wondering if I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or number and remove the HDDs and transport them separately? Thanks, Chris. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/2 "2012-11-05T16:47:14Z")
Will they retain their IP addresse? – Anders Gustafsson (NKP) The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/3 "2012-11-05T17:04:54Z")
On 11/5/2012 9:39 AM, Chris wrote:[color=blue] > Hi all: Our main office is moving to a new building. I of course have to move > all our servers. We use DL385 G1 and G2. As part of the move, I am installing > new racks and rail systems so all I have to do is disconnect the servers, slide > them out of the rack at our old location, move them and slide them into the new > rack and hook them back up. I will have all cabling in the racks pre-installed > and new UPSs too. > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan is to “car > pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am wondering if I should move > the servers with the HDDs in the units, or number and remove the HDDs and > transport them separately? > Thanks, Chris. > [/color] I don’t see any reason to pull hard drives. If a box takes enough of a hit during transport to destroy a drive I think you would be ordering a new server. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/4 "2012-11-05T17:23:47Z")
Chris sounds like they ‘said’: [color=blue] > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan > is to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am > wondering if I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or > number and remove the HDDs and transport them separately? > > Thanks, Chris.[/color] So my response to Chris’s comment is… I would say you should be safe to move the servers w/ the HDs in them. We still do when we take a new box to replace an esx host at a remote site. – Stevo ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/5 "2012-11-05T22:29:33Z")
All network settings stay the same (static). Basically we are picking up from one location and dropping into a new location. [color=blue][color=green][color=darkred] > > > Anders Gustafsson[AndersG@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:AndersG@no-mx.forums.novell.com) 11/5/2012 9:47 AM \>\>\> > > > [/color][/color][/color] > > > Will they retain their IP addresse? – Anders Gustafsson (NKP) The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/6 "2012-11-05T23:13:57Z")
On Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:39:06 GMT, Chris \ wrote: [color=blue] > Hi all: Our main office is moving to a new building. I of course have to move all our servers. We use DL385 G1 and G2. As part of the move, I am installing new racks and rail systems so all I have to do is disconnect the servers, slide them out of the rack at our old location, move them and slide them into the new rack and hook them back up. I will have all cabling in the racks pre-installed and new UPSs too. > > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan is to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am wondering if I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or number and remove the HDDs and transport them separately? > > Thanks, Chris.[/color] Whenever I have setup new servers for my remote office, I always install everything (drives, cards, memory, etc) and then transport the server. Never had any issues with doing so and it means I am moving one object instead of multiple objects. And when we moved our remote office, I stated that I would be personally moving the servers. I didn’t want the moving company touching them. I think you’re ok to just pull the servers and move them. Ken ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/7 "2012-11-06T10:52:04Z")
> All network settings stay the same (static). Basically we are > picking up from one location and dropping into a new location. OK. Just move ther servers then. I would not take out the disks – Anders Gustafsson (NKP) The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/8 "2012-11-06T11:36:01Z")
Stevo;2228259 Wrote:[color=blue] > Chris sounds like they ‘said’: > [color=green] > > > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan > > is to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am > > wondering if I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or > > number and remove the HDDs and transport them separately? > > > > Thanks, Chris.[/color] > > So my response to Chris’s comment is… > > I would say you should be safe to move the servers w/ the HDs in them. > We still do when we take a new box to replace an esx host at a remote > site. > > – > Stevo[/color] I would defiantly remove the hd:s during the move… A couple of months ago when we moved 3 servers about one kilometer, 2 disks died during that move… So when we move the rest of the servers we will be transporting the disks more carefully. Thomas ## – thsundel thsundel’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=461322](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=461322) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/9 "2012-11-06T19:59:46Z")
Chris wrote: [color=blue] > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan > is to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am > wondering if I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or > number and remove the HDDs and transport them separately?[/color] This is always the issue: How much precaution is enough? First of all, make sure you have good backups of _all_ your data. You never know if someone is going to drop a piano out a window on top of your servers. 😉 Next, it depends on the move itself. If you can carry each server to the vehicle, place it on a foam pad, drive on paved roads to the destination, then carry the server to the new rack and insert it, I would be inclined to leave the drives installed. The idea is to prevent unnecessary vibration which can impact the integrity of your hard drives. If the servers may be subjected to vibrations en route or while loading/unloading, I would be inclined to remove the drives. It would likely take more time to replace a drive and rebuild an array or restore a backup than to remove/reinstall the drives. – Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner If you find this post helpful and are using the web interface, show your appreciation and click on the star below… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/10 "2012-11-08T00:26:01Z")
i’ve done this a few times with the drives still in, never had any issues if the drives die during the move it’s likely they would still die if they were powered down for an extended period, i’ve had drives die when servers have been off for a few hours or few days before without physically moving them backups of all of them would be highly advisable ## – gleach1 gleach1’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=934](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=934) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=461322](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=461322) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/11 "2012-11-08T08:45:39Z")
Gleach1,[color=blue] > if the drives die during the move it’s likely they would still die if > they were powered down for an extended period,[/color] Agreed. Has happened to me many times – Anders Gustafsson (NKP) The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/physically-moving-servers/23265/12 "2013-02-05T01:24:01Z")
Chris;221695 Wrote:[color=blue] > Hi all: Our main office is moving to a new building. I of course have > to move all our servers. We use DL385 G1 and G2. As part of the move, > I am installing new racks and rail systems so all I have to do is > disconnect the servers, slide them out of the rack at our old location, > move them and slide them into the new rack and hook them back up. I > will have all cabling in the racks pre-installed and new UPSs too. > > I am worried about the actual physical move of the servers. My plan is > to “car pool” them in four or five cars all at once. I am wondering if > I should move the servers with the HDDs in the units, or number and > remove the HDDs and transport them separately? > > Thanks, Chris.[/color] Hey Chris. Hope your move went well? My advice is for what it costs vs risk to your business, hire a professional IT rely company. We have been bought in on jobs where people have tried to move themselves or used cheap man and van movers. It’s just not worth the risk. Any good relo company will be able to assist with as much or little of your server move as you like. If all you need is safe physical transportation they should supply adequate packaging, (we use custom built, foam lined, server flight cases and anti static bubble wrap). Safe handling, with server lifts or suchlike if necessary, and of course good sized vehicles with taillifts. The work should of course include insurance in case the worst happens. All the best Don ## – Aceitrelocation Aceitrelocation’s Profile: [https://forums.netiq.com/member.php?userid=4246](https://forums.netiq.com/member.php?userid=4246) View this thread: [https://forums.netiq.com/showthread.php?t=46079](https://forums.netiq.com/showthread.php?t=46079)