Cloud Data Migration Strategies: How to Move Data Without Disrupting Operations
Organizations seeking to boost operational efficiency can benefit from migrating applications and data to the cloud. Such a strategy may reduce hardware costs and optimize performance while allowing businesses to leverage rising technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. However, data migration in cloud computing requires a clear strategy and an understanding of potential risks.
Core Components of a Seamless Data Migration in Cloud Computing
Migrating to the cloud requires careful planning. These steps can lead to a smooth, safe transition.
1. Determining Objectives and Strategy
Decide what you hope to achieve from a cloud migration, such as enhanced security or application flexibility. Compare cloud environment options, including their costs and features, to determine which is best for your organization.
2. Assessing the Current Environment
Take a holistic look at your current tech architecture, applications, and data to understand their setup and suitability for migration. Note their dependencies and risks that may arise from an environment transfer. Use the assessment results to determine which applications you'll migrate and whether there are any tools you'll continue to host onsite.
3. Outlining the Cloud Migration Strategy
For each application you plan to move to the cloud, decide what migration strategy you'll use and the work required. For example, you may wish to tweak an application's code or settings to leverage cloud features. This method is time-intensive and may require extra resources.
One of the most common cloud migration strategies is rehosting, where an onsite application is copied to the cloud. This requires minimal adjustments and uses automated migration tools.
4. Initiating the Migration Process
It's best to schedule the migration during a slow period to avoid business interruptions. If that's not possible, schedule the migration outside regular business hours.
Use your migration strategy roadmap to transfer each application to the cloud. If you're moving critical software, working with an experienced migration consultant can ease the transition process and avoid mistakes.
5. Performing a Post-Migration Check
After migration, review each application to verify that it runs as expected and is accessible to users. Include security checks to identify any potential risks and resolve them, and assess any integrations to confirm their functionality.
Ask users to inform your team of errors they encounter when using newly migrated cloud applications. Their input can help you identify hidden issues that aren't discovered during testing. You'll also want to engage in proactive system monitoring after the migration to address problems before they escalate.
Evaluating Migration Frameworks: From Lift-And-Shift To Refactoring
Organizations may use several strategies for a successful cloud migration. While each has its pros and cons, the best method will always depend on your unique situation.
Rehosting
Rehosting is sometimes referred to as the lift-and-shift framework. It involves transferring an entire application to the cloud without any adjustments to its code. This is the simplest migration method, and it works best when you're facing budget constraints or tight deadlines.
Replatforming
In this strategy, minor changes are made to an application's codebase to support cloud features and functionality. However, the application's underlying infrastructure isn't modified. A replatforming framework may allow organizations to enhance security, automation, and application flexibility.
Repurchasing
In a repurchasing cloud strategy, a company buys new software based in the cloud. This software replaces legacy onsite platforms. For example, a business may purchase a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform and transfer data from a legacy application.
Refactoring
Under this framework, teams rework an application's underlying codebase to fully embrace cloud capabilities. It's the most time and resource-intensive strategy, but may lead to long-term cost savings and enhanced performance. A refactoring strategy makes sense for high-use applications critical to business operations and requiring scalability.
Retiring
During the assessment phase of cloud migration, you may find some applications that are no longer useful to your business. By removing them from your tech stack, you can save money and time since your IT team won't need to maintain or migrate them to the cloud.
Retaining
Some applications may not be suitable for the cloud environment due to regulatory or logistical concerns. In this case, you can continue to host the application and its data onsite.
Overcoming Common Risks and Data Integrity Challenges
It's not unusual to encounter hiccups during the migration process. A few cloud migration challenges (and ways to avoid them) include:
- Loss of data integrity: Improper mapping of data from legacy systems to cloud applications can lead to data loss. So can an interrupted Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) process. To avoid these situations, thoroughly review the mapping and retain a secure backup of all data.
- Latency: Slow data retrieval times can frustrate team efforts to use cloud-based applications. Optimize for speed by choosing cloud servers that are closer to your actual location. Refactoring may be necessary if an application consistently calls on legacy on-premises apps to retrieve data.
Transferring data to the cloud introduces security vulnerabilities if not handled properly. Encrypting data before migration and using a secure private connection can minimize this risk. Using a hardware foundation that delivers advanced security features, such as Intel vPro technology, can further safeguard critical assets.
Strategic Planning and Validation Checklists for IT Teams
As you prepare your business for a move to the cloud, use a checklist to keep organized:
- Assess Resources: Determine whether your team has the appropriate skills to handle the migration. Consider hiring a consultant if you lack the in-house resources for cloud migration.
- Understand the Current Landscape: Create a list of your current servers, applications, and databases. Review their dependencies to recognize how data flows between them.
- Determine Cloud Stakeholders: Decide which teams are responsible for the migration process and their individual duties.
- Identify Applications for Migration: Determine which applications are suitable for migration, and which migration framework is appropriate.
Ensuring Long-Term Performance in Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments
Cloud services typically charge by usage. To prevent bill shock, only grant access to cloud-based applications to those who need them. You can also set up alerts to identify when usage nears your budgeted spend.
Migration strategies that prioritize speed, such as rehosting, can lead to technical debt in multi-cloud environments. Refactoring applications for the cloud may curtail this issue.
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