What is Cloud Migration
Category: Idea | Posted date: 2022-07-26 02:20:16 | Posted by: Admin
CLOUD MIGRATION
Data, applications, or other business components are moved to a cloud computing environment through a process called cloud migration.
An organization can perform a variety of cloud migrations. One typical approach is to move information and software from a nearby on-premises data center to a public cloud. Cloud-to-cloud migration, on the other hand, is the process of moving data and applications from one cloud platform or provider to another. A third type of migration involves moving data or applications from the cloud and back to a local data center. This process is known as a reverse cloud migration, cloud repatriation, or cloud exit.
Cloud Migration Benefits
To host applications and data in the most efficient IT environment possible, based on factors like cost, performance, and security, are the general goals or benefits of a cloud migration.
Many businesses move their local data center's on-premises applications and data to public cloud infrastructure to benefit from features like increased elasticity, self-service provisioning, redundancy, and a flexible pay-per-use model.
Strategies of Cloud Migration
A well-planned strategy is needed to address the complex mix of management, technology, staff, and resource challenges involved in moving workloads to the cloud. Both the type of migration to carry out and the kind of data to move offer options. Before acting, it's crucial to take the following cloud migration checklist into account.
Every business will have different objectives, and every business will have a different reason for moving a workload to the cloud. Finding the application or workload you want to move to the cloud is the first step. Next, determine how much data needs to be migrated, how quickly the work needs to be completed, and how. Take stock of your data and applications, and consider any dependencies to determine how they will be replicated in the cloud or possibly redesigned to accommodate different cloud service options.
Not every application should leave the enterprise data center, keep that in mind. Applications that are business-critical, have high throughput specifications, need fast data, or to have stringent regional governance demands like GDPR must be the ones that remain.
Deployment Models of Cloud Migration
Today, businesses have a variety of cloud scenarios to choose from:
- Numerous users can access compute resources in the public cloud via the internet or dedicated connections.
- A private cloud employs a unique architecture and keeps data in the data center.
- The hybrid cloud combines private clouds and public clouds while transferring data among them.
- A company uses IaaS services from various public cloud providers in a multi-cloud scenario.
Consider how well the application will perform once it has been migrated as you decide where it should live. Make sure there is enough bandwidth to support the application. Also consider whether the dependencies of an application might make a migration more difficult.
Review the items in the application's stack before it moves. It is wasteful to pay to migrate and support local applications if they contain a lot of features that aren't used. Another issue with cloud migration is stale data. Moving historical data to the cloud, which typically entails retrieval costs, is probably not a good idea unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
It might be wise to reevaluate the application's strategic architecture as you examine it in order to position it for what might eventually be a longer lifespan. The following platforms are a few that support hybrid and multiple cloud environments:
- Microsoft Azure Stack;
- Google Cloud Anthos;
- AWS Outposts;
- VMware Cloud on AWS; and
- a container-based PaaS, such as Cloud Foundry or Red Hat OpenShift.
Process of Cloud Migration
Based on variables like the type of migration an organization wants to perform and the specific resources it wants to move, the cloud migration steps or processes that organization uses will change. Having said that, the following are typical components of a cloud migration strategy:
- performance and security requirements evaluation;
- choosing a cloud service provider;
- the cost-benefit analysis; and
- any reorganization thought to be required.
On the other hand time, be ready to handle a number of typical difficulties throughout a cloud migration:
- interoperability;
- portability of data and applications;
- security and data integrity; and
- company continuity
Without adequate preparation, a migration may worsen workload performance and result in increased IT costs, negating some of the main advantages of cloud computing.
An enterprise may decide to move an application straight from local servers to its new hosting environment; this model, also known as a lift-and-shift migration, involves moving data directly into the cloud without any modifications. The details of the migration will determine this choice. This one-to-one transition is essentially being made as a temporary fix to reduce infrastructure costs.
- Cloud migration testing. The workload should undergo stress testing and performance optimization before going into production. Testing redundant systems and failure scenarios is also essential. While you shouldn't try to test every potential app feature, you still need to have a firm grasp on a number of performance-related issues both before and after an application is moved to the cloud.
- Cloud migration security. During a cloud migration, there are particular considerations for the new security realities. When moving data or apps over a network, there is a chance that attack vectors will become available. These attacks could involve malware installation, credential and VM snapshot theft, repeated migrations, and resource-intensive "thrashing" persistent denial-of-service attacks.
- Changing IT staff roles. The staff will turn their attention to data performance, usage, and stability once the cloud migration is complete. The overall level of hardware support has decreased somewhat. The team should take some cloud management training classes because cloud workloads must be managed.
Cloud Migration Challenges
Even with a sound strategy, there will still be obstacles and potential issues when moving to the cloud. IT managers occasionally find that their applications perform less well in the cloud than they did on-premises. They must identify the causes of the failed cloud migration; these could be issues with compliance, poor latency, or security worries. Frequently, the cloud application costs more than expected or performs less well than expected.
Many unsuccessful cloud migrations are only momentarily reversed. Instead of a lift-and-shift rehosting, they can be reevaluated, perhaps rearchitected, and then sent back into the cloud with a higher chance of success. Think about the modifications you made before you moved the application to the cloud. One choice might be to transfer the app back to the original platform.
Only briefly are numerous unsuccessful cloud migrations reverted. They can be reevaluated, perhaps rearchitected, and then sent back into the cloud with a higher chance of success rather than a lift-and-shift rehosting. Consider the adjustments you made prior to transferring the application to the cloud. Restoring the app to its original platform might be one option.
