5-Step Strategy to Fast Track Your AWS Cloud Migration

The sheer volume of data generated through day-to-day business operations is putting strain on their existing on-premises infrastructure. AWS cloud migration is the best solution to help businesses maintain their data without breaking the bank.

If you’re considering the AWS cloud platform for your business and need a sure-fire cloud migration strategy, this would be a good read for you.

What is AWS Cloud Migration? 

One of the most popular cloud platforms, AWS or Amazon Web Services, is serving millions of customers, including some of the multinational giants, with 175 web services. As a cloud vendor,  AWS cloud manages and maintains cloud infrastructure spread across the world, thus saving organizations the cost and complexity of managing on-site data centers.

AWS cloud services are not only easy to use and scalable but are also innovative and customizable to meet your distinct business requirements. Organizations may decide to migrate to the AWS platform for one or more of the following reasons:

• Increased website/application traffic
• Future needs
• Business agility
• Disaster recovery
• Application implementation and deployment
• Modernizing current IT portfolio
• Cloud security tools
• Infrastructure costs

What are the Types of Cloud Migration Strategies?

• Rehost

Rehosting is a quick-win cloud migration strategy that prescribes a straightforward journey to the cloud. You simply lift your IT stack from on-premise hosting and shift it to the AWS cloud platform. Rehosting doesn’t require you to make complex code changes and serves as a convenient starting point for major AWS cloud migration objectives.

• Refactor

Refactoring involves rebuilding your custom-developed applications from scratch to create their cloud-native version. In many situations, AWS cloud migration service providers are able to offer a cloud alternative to your custom-built applications and systems. A great benefit of refactoring is that you can exploit the cloud’s full potential, leveraging services like disaster recovery and more.

• Re-platform

Replatforming brings you the best of rehosting and refactoring, which is – a simple migration process and more cloud functionality. In this model, you won’t be completely restructuring your applications but optimize your APIs and operating systems to obtain cloud advantages. 

• Repurchase

Repurchase is replacing a licensed software application with a cloud-based alternative, saving money to renew a costly license agreement. In case you can’t find an exact cloud-based version of your application, you can consider other cloud products that offer similar functionalities.

• Retain/Retire

You don’t have to move your entire IT portfolio to the cloud. As you analyze your on-premise data centers, you may discover that certain systems with sensitive information or of high complexity might raise security or compliance issues if moved to the cloud. In such a scenario, you can choose to retain these applications on the premise. 

Alternatively, you might realize that certain applications don’t bring value to your business anymore. Retiring allows you to shut these systems and instead focus on important applications. 

5 Steps of Cloud Migration

1. Discovery 

The discovery phase intends to assess the migration feasibility of your current infrastructure and the specifications of your legacy systems. It is important to have a full picture of your infrastructure’s demands, strengths, and weaknesses to put together an optimized cloud migration process. 

You must also define your KPIs (Key performance indicators) that portray the performance of your infrastructure in relation to your overall purpose. Through this information, you can determine what changes are needed for your intended migration and even track its success.

1. Design

Designing a cloud migration process begins with selecting the most suitable cloud deployment models: public cloud, private cloud, community cloud, and hybrid cloud. The choice will depend on your storage, computing, and networking requirements as well as your overall goals.

Documenting the complete architecture of your new cloud-based infrastructure is important to lay a clear roadmap for your migration and implementation journey. Irrespective of the unique peculiarities of your architecture, the documentation must have these key components:

• In-house resources
• Cloud resources
• Software applications, components, and services
• Middleware

1. Migration

The migration process takes place in three significant portions. Firstly, infrastructure migration begins by backing up your applications, data, and servers, followed by setting up the new cloud framework. 

Next comes the application migration process, which can be either easy or complex depending on whether your applications are to be simply rehosted or be adapted before refactoring to the cloud.

Lastly, data migration takes place after implementing necessary quality and risk controls. The data is extracted, transformed to fit the new infrastructure, and then loaded. Make sure to conduct testing at each of the three stages to address any anomalies.

1. Going Live

A go-live event isn’t about flipping a switch. You might want to consider the following aspects:

• Make no changes to your legacy infrastructure and perform data sync before your go-live event.
• Minimize downtime by performing a trial go-live event as your migration process can take longer than anticipated, particularly if you are migrating heavy applications or extensive data. This trial will offer you the opportunity to troubleshoot significant delays.
• Leave a path open to roll back to your legacy environment in case the go-live event extends beyond the expected duration or major issues crop up during the event.

1. Ongoing Support

Consistent maintenance and monitoring efforts are necessary to sustain and thrive on the cloud. At a minimum, you need to review and apply security and other necessary updates once a month. However, application and software updates are performed frequently to incorporate recurring changes. 

Also, monitoring performance and testing load and applications consistently are important to ensure that your cloud infrastructure, along with its tools, is delivering a smooth experience to your users.

Many organizations seek outsourced support of a cloud services provider to ensure continuous upkeep of their cloud environment, particularly when they lack a dedicated IT team or migration architect to do all the analytics, testing, monitoring, and so on. Similarly, there can be many reasons for you to consider the services of a professional cloud migration service provider or manage it in-house.

How Can VLink Assist Your Business in the Cloud Migration Process?  

VLink can help you bring agility to your business by reducing dependency on physical resources and the associated expenditure. Our AWS cloud migration consulting services put forth the right strategy, workflow model, assessments, and ecosystem collaboration to make your move to the cloud a rewarding experience. 

It goes without saying that cloud migration is a methodical process developed to work for your complex business environment. As you move along its different stages, you would need to make important considerations and choices. Our team can ease this for you by empowering you with in-depth assessments and well-rounded plans. Our goal is to facilitate a seamless transition by offering you captivating solutions.

Conclusion

A sound migration strategy and a cloud migration partner who can help you automate and leverage tools and professional services are key to getting the maximum value out of your move. At the same time, you are able to efficiently mitigate risks and ensure that your migration effort yields the desired business outcomes. If you’re searching for the best cloud migration company in the USA, look no further.

VLink offers a cohesive migration solution that factors in the change management process. This propels complete cloud transformation, preparing your enterprise for updates and expansion opportunities that cloud migration offers. Ready to chalk out your cloud migration strategy?