EPI CDMS Study Guide — Certified Data Centre Migration Specialist Exam Prep

Pass the EPI CDMS exam with a study guide written for the people who actually move data centres.

The CDMS (Certified Data Centre Migration Specialist) is EPI's migration certification, in the Risk track of the EPI framework. It tests whether you can take a data centre from where it is to where it needs to be without breaking the business on the way: strategy, project and risk management, migration strategies, discovery, planning in waves, target design, safety, security, the move itself, and closing the project properly. EPI's own framing is blunt — a migration is an exceptionally high-risk undertaking, and the effort you put into planning and discovery is directly proportionate to the risk you mitigate. This guide teaches all eleven official syllabus modules in plain language, with the comparisons and judgement calls the exam actually tests.

What's inside:

• All 11 official CDMS syllabus modules across 6 chapters (~59,000 words)

• Strategy first: the data centre lifecycle, the real reasons to migrate (space, power, cooling limits; consolidation; OpEx), and the alternatives you must weigh before committing — consolidation, outsourcing, cloud, upgrade in place or build new

• Project and risk management that a move actually runs on: scope statement vs SOW, the WBS 100% rule, critical path, estimation methods — and qualitative vs semi-quantitative vs quantitative risk assessment, compared until the distinction is automatic

• Migration strategies: homogeneous vs heterogeneous, physical moves, and IT transformations timed before, during or after the move — plus the legal layer: regulatory, contractual, decommissioning

• Discovery and planning: Business Service Reviews, availability vs recoverability, Service Level Objectives, automated discovery tools and their limits, dependency mapping, and migration waves

• Target design, safety and security: sizing with headroom, the technical safety review, electrical safety and lifting, the access-versus-security controversy, chain of custody, key management

• Implementation and closure: rehearsal, route investigation, logistics, packing and labelling discipline, post-migration support — and project closure judged against the business case, not just "everything moved"

• Exam traps flagged throughout: "recommended" vs required, transformation during the move stacking two risks in one window, discovery tool output trusted without validation

Real exam format: 40 multiple-choice questions, 60 minutes, closed-book. Passing mark: 27 out of 40. Exam accredited by EXIN; certificate valid 3 years. No specific prerequisite — data centre or IT infrastructure experience is best suited, and EPI recommends CDCP first.

Independent study material. Not affiliated with or endorsed by EPI.

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