Best Cloud Migration Tips You Will Read This Year
Cloud migration involves moving applications, databases, and other business elements, including IT operations, from local storage to the cloud server. This migration process requires quite a big deal of preparation and groundwork. However, the overall process ends up being worth the effort, which results in extraordinary cost saving and enhanced flexibility in the future.
The term “Cloud Migration” is both focused on moving IT infrastructure, data, and processes from legacy or on-premises infrastructure to the cloud and moving from one cloud to another. Whether the migration is from on-premises to cloud or cloud to cloud, companies can experience the whole benefits of cloud computing compared to legacy infrastructure after moving to the cloud.
Limitations of Legacy Infrastructure
Any outdated hardware or software currently in use is known as “legacy hardware” or “legacy software” respectively. They are not usually as effective and secure as compared to up-to-date solutions. Apart from falling business behind their opponents, legacy infrastructure usually results in an increased risk of data breaches and other unescapable security issues.
In most cases, original vendors do not provide support for legacy software. That is why they are usually unreliable and slower in operations. Later releases normally exceed the capability of similar outdated software or hardware, and vendors no longer provide security patches as they drop support.
Benefits of Migration to the Cloud
The migration helps reduce the operating expenses and capital expense by acquiring resources only when required and paying only for the same. The rapid advancement in migrating IT infrastructure from a local server to a cloud server offers a range of benefits for businesses like:
Enhanced Scalability
With cloud computing, managing an unlimited number of users is no more an issue. Thanks to its greater support for larger workloads and user management as compared to an on-premises server. There is no need to set up additional IT infrastructure for extra workload and performance achievement.
Cost Reduction
Apart from providing enhanced workout and the ability to handle multiple operations, cloud computing also provides maintenance and upgrades to keep things up and running. With cloud migration, businesses can fully focus on their core business needs, resources, and production to achieve their maximum profitability targets.
Improved Performance
While providing data to the end-user and the user experience, the overall performance is highly improved in migrating to the cloud. Applications that are hosted on a cloud data centre allow faster data availability as compared to on-premises servers. With cloud servers, data will not have to travel as far to be available to the users.
Data Access Flexibility
Cloud computing allows businesses to expand into innovative territories and offer their services to customers around the globe. Because the services provided by cloud servers provide equal access to both customers and employees, employees can get the data they need from anywhere, thus allowing them to work flexibly.
Challenges In Migration To The Cloud
Some common challenges must be considered before migrating to the cloud. These challenges are just the business’s technical aspects that need proper care during the process to overcome every single probability of data loss.
Large Database Migration
Because cloud computing needs your database to be available in the cloud for improved performance, such a move, especially with large amounts of data, is quite challenging. Data migration usually takes more time when it is transferred over the internet. The best approach for moving massive databases is to stick to a data transfer method of cloud providers instead of transferring data over the internet.
Data Integrity
Once the data is transferred from an on-premises server to cloud storage, the next step is to check the data’s integrity and security aspects. Data integrity verification plays a crucial role in verifying that the migrated data is not leaked during the process and is complete in all aspects.
Nonstop Operations
Before migrating to the cloud, businesses must ensure that their existing system is up and running throughout the process. The best approach is to move a little bit of data at a time and maintain a complete copy of the data in the cloud before turning off the existing server. Continuous service availability is also possible by having some overlap between on-premises server and cloud storage.
Cloud Migration Strategies
To date, three basic cloud migration strategies are commonly used by businesses. Let’s dig in a bit more into the details of these strategies for migrating to the cloud.
Lift-and-Shift
Also known as “Rehosting”, the Lift-and-Shift is the speediest data migration approach with minimal refactoring. As compared to a more thorough process, businesses sometimes end up paying for the speed and ease of migration in the future while choosing the Lift-and-Shift approach. This approach is helpful for low-impact and specific workloads. Businesses with limited cloud maturity must choose the Lift-and-Shift approach for moving data.
Move-and-Improve
Also known as “Replatforming”, the Move-and-Improve approach for data migration involves making state-of-the-art updates to the application. In most cases, this approach is considered the happy-medium tactic for migration and remains a superior option for most businesses.
Rip-and-Replace
Also known as “Refactoring”, the Rip-and-Replace involves rebuilding the entire workload from scratch to make it native to the cloud. It requires quite a big deal of investment in time and skills. It requires reskilling and upskilling of the existing talent to achieve the maximum benefits available in the cloud.
Conclusion
The workload and operations of every single business are unique. Most often, enterprises prioritize moving to the cloud to acquire the whole sum of benefits and capabilities. For this purpose, companies must embrace a cloud-native design principle followed by planning and doing things right by choosing the right migration strategy.
REFERENCES
- https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/cloud/what-is-cloud-migration/#:~:text=Cloud%20migration%20is%20the%20process,from%20one%20cloud%20to%20another.
- https://acloudguru.com/blog/business/what-is-cloud-migration
