The Many-Handed Move of Research Workspace

An undated photograph of a construction site for the Farmingdale campus of Brooklyn Polytechnic.
Pictured here is a research workspace from the past–construction begins on the Farmingdale campus of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. An undated image from the Poly Historic Photograph Collection.

How many hands does it take to move a storage device? Many, as it turns out! As part of the effort to vacate the South Data Center (SDC) in a timely fashion, the Research Workspace team, in collaboration with NYU-IT colleagues, moved the hardware device that powers the service from the SDC to the colocation facility across the river. We’re happy to announce that the storage is safely in its new location and the service is back up and running.

To accomplish this move, we:

  • Held regular meetings and determined tasks and milestones
  • Managed several vendor contracts and relationships
  • Determined networking, power, and other considerations for the device in its new location
  • Tested backup and restoration of files in the event of a hardware failure during the move
  • Kept users notified of the move and its schedule

On the day of the move, Vito Ciancia went to the SDC to disconnect and pack up the hardware himself, because the vendor was not allowed on-site. Without Vito’s help, the entire plan would have fallen apart.

We’re indebted to our colleagues in NYU-IT, including Neha Shah, Lia Asinas, Geby Varughese, and of course, Vito Ciancia, for their efforts to make this move happen.

The Research Workspace team, a cross-departmental organization, worked together to ensure service continuity during this time. The members are Nick Wolf, Vicky Rampin, Kate Pechekhonova, Loren Koenig, and Carol Kassel.

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