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Cloud migration is one of the most painstaking and challenging processes, involving arduous tasks, thorough assessment, rigorous testing, and a lot of time. At the same time, companies choose to migrate to AWS to unlock financial benefits, increase scalability, and gain access to the latest technologies. However, it’s worth noting that many of them wrestle with the question of cloud transformation vs cloud migration and whether to simply move the existing systems as-is or invest in complete modernization.
In this article, we’ll explore how to migrate to AWS, discuss the main strategies, and highlight some obstacles. Additionally, we’ll also analyze some AWS migration best practices that might help you smooth the transition.
Let’s begin by dissecting the AWS offering and identifying the exact reasons for choosing this service as your primary cloud provider. Among the top arguments for AWS migration is scalability and subsequent cost savings. In fact, Amazon Web Services offers the so-called auto-scaling feature that automatically reacts to the current demand, preventing resource waste. It can scale up the infrastructure during peak times and scale down when needed. This leads to a significant cost reduction as companies decrease wastage, in addition to other expense-cutting benefits associated with the absence of hardware, power, buildings, etc.
In addition to auto-scaling, AWS boasts serverless capabilities with features like Step Functions, Fargate, Aurora, and others. While Step Functions helps businesses reliably execute complex tasks on time and error-free, Fargate enables organizations to modernize outdated apps without server management overhead. As a result, these and other AWS functions unlock cost savings, minimize errors, and accelerate development.
Another consideration that plays a role when selecting AWS is the reliability of its services and resources. For instance, the cloud provider supports and provides seamless implementation of deployment options, such as blue/green, enable users to achieve little to no downtime. Aside from preventing the costs from ballooning out of proportion, no downtime also translates into a better customer experience. This allows businesses to innovate, upgrade, and experiment without interrupting and limiting existing services.
Finally, using services like AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon Inspector, and many others, AWS users can bolster the overall security of their assets. From automatically identifying potential issues, analyzing them, alerting users, and offering solutions to standard security practices and protocols, AWS is highly regarded as a cybersecurity behemoth. AWS cloud migration also supports industry-specific regulations like HIPAA and GDPR, aiding companies in improving their compliance.
Before we dive deep into the AWS migration guide, let’s take a look at the most common migration strategies. Known as the 6 Rs, these strategies encompass different scenarios, allowing companies to identify the best way to move their data to the cloud.
The simplest strategy, rehosting consists of moving applications as-is from on-premise or one cloud system to another. This approach allows businesses to migrate applications to AWS almost without changes to the core infrastructure or architecture, enabling businesses to directly transfer all data to the cloud.
A slightly more invasive strategy, replatforming helps organizations to move their data almost as-is, i.e., with minimal alterations. While the application’s code and architecture remain intact, engineers may make changes to some components to leverage AWS services.
Refactoring is a more invasive migration strategy that includes optimizing the existing application code. This process aids companies in adapting their systems to the requirements of the cloud environment and microservice architecture without making deeper modifications.
If refactoring is not enough and the design is severely outdated, it’s time to rearchitect. A longer process, rearchitecting involves breaking down the applications into smaller parts and gradually adapting them to the cloud.
In some cases, the cost and time it’ll take to migrate to AWS is not worth the application’s value. If that’s your situation, consider simply retiring the tool.
Finally, you can also rewrite the application from scratch to create a cloud-native solution fully compatible with the cloud.
This section is part of the AWS migration guide that will describe the migration process for different scenarios, including moving data from competitors like Azure and Google Cloud, as well as from traditional on-premise setups.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a cloud service provided by Google. A popular cloud vendor, GCP excels at AI and machine learning services, allowing users to innovate. However, companies seeking a broader suite of resources, user-friendliness, and cost reduction opportunities might consider switching to Amazon. Organizations choose to migrate from Google Cloud to AWS to unlock cost optimization, gain access to global audiences, and take advantage of extensive software solutions and partnerships.
Companies that decide to migrate to AWS face certain challenges, specifically technical obstacles. Despite the numerous similarities between the platforms, their offerings are not identical to one another, which creates hurdles during the migration process. For example, GCP’s global load balancer architecture is set up differently from its Amazon competitor, requiring redesign of traffic distribution strategies. Permission protocols also need to be amended to compensate for the minor differences between the systems.
Compile a list of everything you’ve set up in the Google Cloud account, including databases, apps, servers, etc. Compare the offerings to draw parallels between the corresponding services like GP Compute Engine and Amazon EC2. Create an Amazon account and establish basic infrastructure.
Transfer your data from GCP to Amazon Web Services, but prioritize non-critical workloads first. This will give you a chance to test the resources without jeopardizing your entire system.
Conduct various tests to ensure the system’s functionality. Include functional, performance, and security testing to minimize potential bottlenecks in the future.
Finally, redirect the traffic to the new address, decommission obsolete resources on Google Cloud, and monitor the systems continuously.
Microsoft Azure, colloquially known as Azure, is another top cloud vendor with numerous pre-built solutions and custom services. While Azure’s suite is quite impressive, Amazon’s offerings are considerably larger and more diverse. Additionally, organizations migrate from Azure to AWS to leverage advanced deployment and management tools. Unless you’re heavily invested in Microsoft’s infrastructure and ecosystem, AWS migration will offer more flexibility, cost savings, and reliability.
Similar to Google Cloud, Azure boasts an extensive selection of cloud services, specifically curated to complement the existing Microsoft ecosystem. But in the same vein, the offerings differ from AWS, making identifying exact equivalents quite challenging. From distinctions in data formats and storage options to differences in configurations and dependencies, the suites are not identical. If you want to migrate from Azure to AWS, you’ll have to pinpoint Azure-specific services and make modifications to make the applications compatible.
Document your Azure servers, databases, and accounts to evaluate your current infrastructure. Pay special attention to any Azure integration points that might need rearchitecting in AWS. To increase the success of the AWS migration, create a detailed plan to determine your goals and prioritize your assets. Depending on the objectives, select the right strategy, such as rehosting, replatforming, or refactoring.
Set up an AWS account, map Azure services to Amazon, and transfer your assets. For example, you can move your applications to Amazon EC2 instances to ensure your data is secure.
Test your new AWS applications and infrastructure components through rigorous testing scenarios to make sure they’re working properly and safely.
To fully migrate to AWS, change the website settings to shift the traffic to AWS and phase out of Azure resources. Finally, track the performance of your systems and make adjustments if needed.
Heroku is a cloud provider designed to accommodate smaller companies that benefit from simplicity. However, as the business grows, so do technical needs, prompting owners to migrate from Heroku to AWS. The primary benefit is the cost optimization and increased scalability that arrives with AWS migration. The service also provides a more comprehensive suite, including advanced security functions, performance optimization opportunities, real-time analytics, and more.
The biggest hurdle is the technical complexity of the migration process, highlighted by the difference between Platform as a Service(PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environments. This distinction forces migration specialists to reassess the underlying architecture of their apps and manually manage various aspects like networking and configurations. Additionally, developers need to take into consideration data complexities, especially if they’re working with complex database structures.
As for non-technical challenges, companies that choose to migrate from Heroku to AWS are concerned with financial aspects. Additional expenditure can arise from data transfers, infrastructure setups, hiring experts, temporary performance inconsistency, and others.
Audit your Heroku applications, set up an AWS account, and create necessary resources. For example, generate instance types, such as database instances, to handle your applications within the AWS ecosystem.
Next, move your database information to AWS and deploy applications to their servers. Also, opt for auto-scaling to ensure you’re only paying for the services you’re using to optimize expenses.
Update your website’s settings and gradually shift the user traffic from Heroku to the new AWS setup. During the process, run regular and extensive tests to guarantee competitive performance.
Finalize the transition and go live, but continuously monitor the system performance and responsiveness.
VMware is a virtualization computing technology that primarily operates on company premises. Companies that need greater scalability and a wider range of cloud computing services than VMware would benefit from AWS cloud migration. Like with other traditional environments, organizations have to maintain the infrastructure themselves, while AWS offers better flexibility. Additionally, AWS’s automation capabilities reduce administrative burden, allowing workers to focus on the big picture.
Unlike Azure, GCP, and AWS, VMware is fundamentally different from its aforementioned counterparts. This makes the transition more challenging, especially from technical aspects. For instance, there are significant issues associated with incompatible infrastructures. Furthermore, maintaining security policies during and after AWS cloud migration is an arduous task, requiring an in-depth understanding of Amazon Web Services. The platforms also provide drastically different pricing models, further complicating the transition. Finally, moving from on-premise to the cloud might create some downtime, disrupting business operations and limiting services.
Begin by creating a list of all your virtual machines and applications, and create an AWS account.
Utilize AWS’s migration systems to migrate VMware to AWS. Start with non-critical components to avoid major issues and downtime, and test them as you go. Continue with more critical parts and move your assets gradually so as not to miss any errors.
After migrating your data, optimize cloud costs with AWS by using reserved capacity and auto-scaling.
The final step is, again, decommissioning the VMware services, redirecting traffic to AWS, and consistent monitoring.
On-premise is referred to as a traditional infrastructure setup, whereby organizations maintain their servers and hardware on the company’s grounds. While this approach may offer slightly more control over data and infrastructure, this traditional system requires more manual maintenance, additional IT experts, and elevated costs. In contrast, when businesses migrate to AWS, they can leverage cloud application development services, utilize cutting-edge and emerging technologies, as well as bolster their security.
Much like with other AWS migration services we discussed, moving data from on-premise to the cloud is a major technical challenge. Organizations with vast amounts of data may especially struggle to keep up with unexpected application dependencies and various technical limitations. However, the most taxing type of migration is associated with legacy systems. Running on outdated protocols and depending on local resources, legacy applications pose the biggest obstacle in cloud migration services.
In addition to technological nuances, many companies can be quite resistant to cloud migration due to the cultural and organizational setting. They often struggle to get stakeholders on board without an in-depth training session about the benefits of AWS migration services.
Conduct an extensive audit of your current IT environment components and categorize them by urgency and complexity. After a thorough examination, select the migration strategy that fits your capabilities and goals the best.
Create an AWS account, establish the basic infrastructure, and migrate from on-premise to AWS. Start with non-critical parts and rely on AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) and AWS DataSync to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted transition.
Test your applications to ensure the performance is competitive and the security is high.
Finally, go live with your new cloud provider and take advantage of AWS cost optimization tools to reduce expenses. Don’t forget to train your IT team on managing Amazon systems and develop new maintenance procedures.
Oracle is another major technological company, catering to enterprises seeking high-performance computing solutions. Similar to Azure, Oracle cloud computing is designed for organizations that have already invested in the Oracle ecosystem. If that’s not the case, it’s recommended to migrate to AWS. Not only does AWS provide a much larger portfolio of services and resources, but it also unlocks cost savings, scalability, and innovation opportunities with artificial intelligence and ML in the cloud.
The biggest hurdle to migrating to cloud computing from Oracle is its comprehensive and complicated licensing conditions. Before you migrate from Oracle database to AWS, you need to study the licensing agreements and identify the best approach to avoid unnecessary expenses. Additionally, companies with applications heavily contingent on Oracle resources like Data Guard may find it difficult to disentangle the services. In other words, it’s not recommended to embark on the cloud migration journey if your entire infrastructure is fundamentally built on the Oracle suite.
Before you can migrate from Oracle database to AWS, consider the Oracle license agreements to figure out the potential cost implications.
Compile the list of your Oracle databases and applications to identify your current IT state. Use Amazon’s migration tools to move your Oracle databases to AWS services.
Thoroughly test your application performance and data security to minimize bottlenecks and make changes to the apps to enable them to work with new databases. Also, replace your Oracle middleware, servers, and resources with similar services from the AWS toolkit.
Launch your updated applications and test the performance to make sure it works better than your old setup. Finally, track the performance over time to eliminate potential issues and improve systems in the long run.
There are four main types of AWS migration challenges: technical, security, financial, and skill. Data migration is associated with a high level of technical complexity due to compatibility and integration issues. To support businesses during their cloud transformation, Amazon has created the Well-Architected Framework that helps them evaluate how ready their systems are for the cloud. If the applications cannot be migrated as-is, consider refactoring or rearchitecting.
Next are security and compliance concerns, especially during the migration process itself, when the systems are most vulnerable. To combat these issues, utilize Amazon’s security tools like IAM and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to minimize potential safety threats. Also, if you’re concerned about the costs getting out of hand, consider using AWS Budgets to set custom budgets.
Finally, another common AWS migration challenge is potential skill gaps within the organization. You can solve this issue by offering training to your existing IT team, hiring new employees, or collaborating with a tech agency.
First and foremost, it’s important to mention that cloud migration is not just a technical transformation, but also a cultural one. This process requires effort from the entire organization to educate themselves and others and create new opportunities to increase innovation. Among the top AWS migration best practices is also setting concrete and measurable goals. Without quantifiable objectives, analyzing how successful the transition has been would be a challenging task:
Make sure your team is on the same page and understands the reason for the AWS migration. This includes both the technical team and other department members such as sales, human resources, marketing, etc. Consider providing comprehensive training regarding Amazon Web Services to educate your staff on its benefits and challenges, as well as practices and guidelines.
Think about your AWS strategy before the transition and consider your weaknesses and opportunities to develop a clear roadmap to success. For example, if your main goal is cost reduction or unlocking better flexibility, create a strategy that will guide you to it. The roadmap should also include the roles and responsibilities of members involved, timelines, budgets, and other vital considerations.
As for technical AWS migration best practices, try to automate as much of the migration as possible using auto-scaling, AWS Step Functions, and other resources. And once the transition is complete, rely on monitoring tools to keep track of system performance. Finally, consider collaborating with third-party AWS and Azure consulting experts to ensure the process goes smoothly and error-free:
Cloud adoption, in particular AWS services, enables exceptional automation capabilities, allowing team to optimize their workflows. Discuss automation needs with different department heads to prioritize your goals and streamline data collection and analytics, testing and deployment, and many other functions that aid your business.
Take advantage of AWS’s boastful security practices and tools to safeguard your business and customer data. From access management and multi-factor authentication to security training and rigorous testing, the AWS suite can help you bolster your security.
If you’re looking for an external partner to support you during the data migration, get in touch with NIX. We’re a certified AWS Partner with decades of experience in cloud computing and AWS consulting. Our AWS migration services are designed to help organizations leverage the cloud while minimizing costs, downtime, and complications. Reach out to us to learn more about AWS migration and ask any questions.
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You can migrate SAP to AWS to reduce infrastructure expenditure and improve system performance at the same time. Utilize specific SAP instance types to facilitate the transition and minimize downtime and other common issues. Much like with other types of migration, moving data from SAP systems to AWS requires careful planning and goal-setting, as well as staff training and extensive testing.
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To migrate mainframe to AWS, you can rely on internal Amazon services and tools. Mainframe modernization involves analyzing your existing apps and data, choosing the right strategy, and utilizing resources like AWS Mainframe Modernization to perform an error-free transition. If you’re wondering how to migrate to AWS with minimal downtime, consider rehosting or replatforming.
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It is possible to completely avoid downtime during migration by using the aforementioned 6 R strategy. However, achieving zero downtime can be highly complicated, so aim at minimizing it to between 4–48 hours, depending on migration complexity and data volume.
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AWS offers an extensive array of security and compliance tools, designed to protect your data during and after cloud migration. Additionally, you can opt for various security practices to bolster security, such as IAM, MFA, data encryption, and many others.
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