What is cloud migration?

Staying competitive in a data-driven environment is a growing challenge for a lot of organisations. Cloud migration provides a dynamic way into the IT landscape, offering a compelling solution for improved business efficiency and security.

What is cloud migration?

Cloud migration involves the movement of business data, applications and workloads from a private, on-premises server to a public cloud provider’s server, and also between different cloud environments (cloud-to-cloud migration).

Within the various types of cloud, there are two technical features that are present in most migrations:

the type of resource or “workload” that’s being migrated

the location it’s being migrated to

A company or firm may choose to migrate to a single or multiple cloud, using either a public cloud model to deliver services over public internet, or a private cloud model where data is stored securely for employee use only. Recently, we have seen more organisations switching to a hybrid cloud infrastructure, which involves the collaboration of public and private cloud services to customise IT environments. Combining services allows businesses to build a system that supports and automates their data in the most effective and flexible way.

An alternative to hybrid cloud is multicloud, which involves the use of cloud services from more than one cloud vendor for different tasks. Multiclouds give businesses the freedom to optimise their performance and control costs through portable cloud computing solutions. They are typically built on open source, cloud-native technologies that have the capability to manage workloads across several clouds in a single interface.

Common migration scenarios

Datacentre migration

The process of moving business data and services from on-premises servers to a cloud provider’s server. Datacentre resources are usually allocated to the cloud via high-capacity networks, but if a strong network becomes unavailable, the resources are transferred onto high-capacity disks or “data boxes” instead, where a cloud provider manually uploads the data to the server.

Hybrid cloud migration

Some organisations prefer to keep back some of their resources in their on-premises server and move only a selected segment to the cloud, resulting in a “hybrid cloud” infrastructure. This scenario maximises the value of on-premises datacentre services whilst remaining compliant of industry and governmental requirements.

Hybrid clouds are useful when backing up data, ensuring on-premises data is backed up on a public cloud if disaster strikes and the datacentre becomes inoperable.

Cloud to cloud migration

Following the development of cloud computing, more organisations are using multiple clouds to achieve their optimum IT environment. Reasons for moving resources between public clouds usually stems from business mergers or acquisitions, but also to reap the benefits of different cloud platforms’ pricing models, security features or products.

The idea of running multiple clouds at once may sound overwhelming, but with Azure Arc and similar central management tools, resources can be conveniently managed from a single place.

Application, database, and mainframe migration

Linux, SAP, SQL Server, and Windows Server are workloads which are commonly migrated, whereas IBM and Unisys are mainly used for mainframe migration. Organisations may choose to use this form of migration for more robust security, improved performance reliability and reduced costs, amongst other benefits.

Cloud migration strategies

A migration strategy is part of the prep, helping streamline cloud migration with the required tools and approaches for the task. Here are the general stages that must be present in every cloud migration for best practice:

Rehosting

Also known as “lift-and-shift”, rehosting involves the migration of data applications from onsite infrastructure to a new cloud environment without making any specific changes to the framework.

Replatforming

Replatforming, or “lift-and-reshape”, follows a similar process as rehosting, accept this time the applications in transit are modified to improve performance and scalability.

Refactoring

In order to make applications suitable for the new cloud environment, they can be refactored or redesigned to maximise the cloud system capabilities through improved IT architecture.

Repurchasing

Providing instant access to cloud computing, the repurchasing strategy involves the retirement and replacement of existing applications with Software as a Service (SaaS) alternatives.

Retiring

The retiring approach can only be implemented once outdated and unused applications are decommissioned. Data systems undergo a deep cleanse, removing any extraneous or redundant resources from impacting the migration process.

Benefits of cloud migration

Cloud migration offers a host of benefits when you have the IT support and services to ensure the process runs smoothly. We are going to explore the key benefits that cloud migration could bring to your business:

Enhanced security

Public clouds have been designed to better protect organisations’ resources through built-in security features and specialised security tools. More often than not, the cloud provider automatically completes security patching.

Simplified management

On-premises datacentres and cloud resources can be conveniently managed via a central management tool attached to the cloud provider.

Backup, recovery and failover

Business continuity is refined through the help of built-in, one-click backup and recovery possibilities provided by cloud providers. Depending on the chosen provider, some backups can be stored based on geographic region.

Challenges of cloud migration

Unprepared organisations who fail to manage migration planning and costs could face challenges along the way, such as:

Planning

Migrations often require extensive planning to ensure the process is well executed. A good plan starts with a defined strategy and full involvement from key stakeholders.

Downtime

Technological advancements have made the transfer of data much quicker and easier, though organisations risk increasing downtime if they don’t plan thoroughly. It’s safer to divide the data into smaller batches and migrate it piece by piece over time.

Initial cost

Cloud migration offers money saving opportunities in the long term, but the initial cost of installation can be a hit to some organisations. Before migrating, it’s important to factor in expenses to ensure you’re in budget.

Cloud migration checklist

Without specialist advice and support, understanding and implementing the different types of cloud migration can be challenging for any organisation – especially those under strict time and resource constraints. We have devised a ten-step checklist help make your cloud migration a success:

Define objectives and business goals

Identify key stakeholders

Choose the appropriate provider

Select correct cloud environment

Ensure security and compliance

Determine strategy

Establish framework

Deployment

Test and train

Monitor and improve

Realising your organisation is in need of cloud migration needn’t be problematic when you have a managed service provider on board, contact our team of IT experts for a smooth and thorough migration process.