The cloud has proven to be a valuable resource in the continuing struggle to expand data environments, improve flexibility and performance, and lower the overall cost of IT infrastructure.
But even as the Cloud is well into its third decade, much is still to be learned about optimizing disparate resources and migrating workloads to a cloud environment. As demand for robust, reliable data services increases in the era of AI, 5G, and the Internet of Things (IoT), organizations of all sizes and industries face continuing pressure to get the cloud right.
The computational needs of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is another factor driving cloud adoption as enterprises seek ways to meet the data, processing, and security requirements of AI tools.
However, a successful migration has many challenges, including data loss, security gaps, interoperability issues, downtime, and cost. A well-thought-out cloud migration plan can pave the way to a seamless transition. This post will review the steps and best practices involved in migration planning.
Assessing your environment and cloud-readiness
The first step in a cloud migration plan is determining your ‘why’. What are your primary objectives in the move? An organization can migrate any number of databases, applications, infrastructures, or workloads to a cloud environment to improve efficiency, access, security, and so on.
Once your organization has clarified its objectives in a cloud migration plan, the next step is to inventory and prioritize assets to migrate to the Cloud. Only some workloads will make sense in a cloud environment, and organizations bound by compliance or security concerns may need to adopt a hybrid model in which some assets remain on-premises.
Finally, your organization needs to determine its cloud-readiness. In other words, does your organization have the stakeholder buy-in, available budget, and human and technology resources to successfully migrate to the Cloud? Collaborating with a cloud migration expert is a strategic decision for organizations seeking to streamline the transition process and mitigate potential challenges associated with migration efforts.
Choosing a cloud model
There are several models of cloud computing to choose from:
- Private clouds are custom enterprise clouds that are purpose-built for large organizations. While they are the most secure model, they are also the most expensive.
- Public clouds, provided by hyperscalers like Google, AWS, Oracle, etc., offer many popular cloud services, such as storage, infrastructure, and security tools.
- Multi-cloud models are for organizations utilizing cloud services from multiple providers. In an age where enterprises lean on multiple SaaS tools, such an architecture is increasingly common.
- Hybrid cloud models are utilized by organizations that must maintain part of their environment on-premises, for security or operational reasons.
Each organization has unique computing needs and must choose a model that prioritizes efficiency while maintaining security.
Read more: Info sheet: Public Cloud – Cloud Security Posture Management
Planning the architecture
The key to meeting the challenges of cloud migration is first determining what a successful migration looks like and then planning and constructing an effective architecture that reduces risk and improves efficiencies during and afterward.
Fortunately, CBTS utilizes a well-architected framework to help organizations achieve optimal results in their cloud. The framework lays out the five pillars of a successful cloud:
- Operational excellence – The ability to run and monitor systems to deliver business value and continually improve supporting processes and procedures.
- Security – The ability to protect information, systems, and assets while delivering business value through risk assessments and mitigation strategies.
- Reliability – The ability of a system to recover from infrastructure or service disruptions, dynamically acquire computing resources to meet demand, and mitigate disruptions caused by misconfigurations, transient network issues, or other causes.
- Performance efficiency –The ability to use computing resources efficiently to meet system requirements and maintain that efficiency as demand changes and technologies evolve.
- Cost optimization –The ability to run systems to deliver business value at the lowest price point.
With this framework in hand, enterprise technicians and consulting specialists have a clear idea of what success in the cloud looks like, and this can then be used to guide the migration to a successful conclusion.
Selecting a migration strategy and method
In terms of strategy, an organization must choose when and how it will execute the migration. Will it be a phased migration to minimize downtime? A hybrid approach in which the architecture is migrated first and then the data in phases? Or will the migration happen all at once, in a single, big move? Each strategy has risks and benefits, depending on your timeline and resources.
Then, your organization must determine precisely how it will migrate its infrastructure and data using one or more of the seven R’s:
1. Re-hosting (lift and shift): This strategy involves moving data from on-premises storage to cloud servers without modifying the application.
2. Relocating (hypervisor-level lift and shift): This method migrates workloads without impacting ongoing operations or requiring new hardware, allowing for the seamless transfer of servers to Cloud versions like Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).
3. Re-platforming: Similar to re-hosting, this approach includes minor modifications while keeping the application’s architecture intact, requiring some programming knowledge.
4. Re-purchasing: This strategy involves abandoning existing on-premises software and adopting a cloud-based SaaS platform, such as Salesforce or Workday.
5. Re-architecting: This is the most costly and time-consuming strategy. It involves rewriting applications from scratch to fully utilize cloud capabilities.
6. Retiring: Organizations may shutdown obsolete infrastructure to optimize costs and focus resources on core business applications.
7. Retaining: Some organizations may keep specific infrastructure modules on-premises for financial or operational reasons.
Learn more: Five paths to achieve the benefits of application modernization
Execution and optimization
The cloud remains an essential resource for the enterprise, primarily because it offers an opportunity to try new things and function at levels that exceed the capabilities of traditional infrastructure. However, a cloud without order leads to digital chaos, as many organizations that failed to implement the proper controls early on came to understand and regret.
A well-designed cloud migration plan is only one aspect of a successful migration. Equally important is the execution, and this is where an experienced partner can be invaluable.
By partnering with CBTS, organizations gain the best of the cloud–unlimited resources, low operating costs, and cutting-edge tools–without worry. By delivering top performance, security, scale, and availability using a proven framework, our clients are in a prime position to excel in the next phase of the digital economy.
Contact us for more information on how CBTS can manage your next cloud migration.
