Tag: cloud migration challenges

How to Avoid Cloud Migration Mistakes

Posted on by Idexcel Technologies

Best Practices for Cloud Security

The data world is very dynamic, and it is critical to update services according to the demands of business. When you are operating cloud storage, it may occur that you are not satisfied with your service provider and want to migrate to another cloud provider. That sure is a right step, but what many miss upon is the fact that cloud migration is a very critical task and should be executed wisely. Even when you are moving your resources to the cloud for the first time, you should keep in mind the following basic ideas that will keep you away from any significant mishaps.

Not Every App is a Candidate For The Cloud
Some applications’ data need not be migrated to the cloud for several reasons. Some apps have very complex structuring and codes which might not embrace migration smoothly. Migration for these apps may directly result in local data unavailability. Maintenance and repair of such apps are relatively easier when the files are located near the execution team. As a precaution, you should keep an intact copy of the data of that app and migrate one copy to the cloud. However, the locality issue will still hold—the shared responsibility with your cloud provider will be hard to maintain. Therefore, avoid the migration of such products.

Migration Requires Absolute Care
Often, people are unaware that cloud migration is not merely a process of zipping up their files and uploading to a server (similar to uploading files on Drive). The key to a successful migration depends on the quality of work and experience of your service provider. Your provider should be well aware of cloud migration operations and their repercussions. Cloud migration changes the entire paradigm of your activities—from security to file exchange everything has to work differently. Such an operational model requires a set of expertise on the service provider’s end for the smooth functioning of the business, so make sure that you have the right partner matching shoulder with you.

Choosing Your Service Provider
Thinking that every cloud service provider is going to offer you the same services is a disturbing thought. Let’s take the example of billing. Each cloud provider will have its own set of features and functions to offer; their sizes, add-ons, and prices may vary significantly. Your task is to choose the one that’s best suited for your business’ needs. Additionally, each service has a particular set of APIs and consoles which are, in most cases, incompatible with each other. Therefore, it is advised that you do not indulge in experiments and instead should go with the expert’s suggestions on business-specific cloud services.

Rushing The Migration is Out of The Question
Migration requires time to be exclusively dedicated to the process. During migration, a business might not function entirely for a bit of time, but that’s only temporary. Faster migrations result in compromising with the quality of your data being transfer, while slower migrations might consume your valuable time unnecessarily. What you should do is to find the perfect balance between the two. Having migration at a moderate speed is what you must strive to achieve — this is where the expertise of your cloud provider will matter at large.

Security Aspects Must Bot be Neglected
Although you might be moving to the cloud for better security, you are still vulnerable to risks. Having a weak front in the migration process, especially the sensitive data, can cost your company a lot. It is advised that you take proper measures before migrating through the help of an in-house expert; they must ensure the security before, during and after the migration.

Keeping these precautions in mind before moving ahead with migration will undoubtedly save you from common mistakes that many business owners commit. The critical factor in avoiding many of these mistakes will be your service provider, therefore, choose them wisely.

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Six Cloud Migration Strategies for Applications

Posted on by Idexcel Technologies

Six Cloud Migration Strategies for Applications

The Cloud has become the go-to computing point for enterprises these days. Many companies prefer to transition their existing apps to the Cloud, simply because of the security and efficiency benefits the platform can provide. No matter the type of IT environment within your enterprise, chances are the Cloud will prove to be beneficial.

Moving to the Cloud needs to be practical and resourceful; it does not have to be simultaneous and all at once. In other words, some applications should be run in the traditional manner, while some can slowly and steadily be transitioned to the Cloud. With this mode, one can make use of the hybrid Cloud model, wherein a few apps can work on the Cloud, while others are slowly and steadily moved over.

If you are also looking at making use of the Cloud for running your business-related apps, then it is time to check out the following options available for the process.

Re-Hosting

Re-hosting is all lift and shift since it entails redeploying apps to a cloud-based environment, where changes are made to the app’s host configuration. This type of migration is not only easy but also considered to be a quick and seamless transition methodology.

What makes this solution appealing is the use of the re-hosting capabilities with the likes of AWS VM Import/Export; however, this does not stop customers from learning as they go. In other words, once apps are in the Cloud, redesigning them to meet your current demands is an easier task. Generally speaking, re-hosting as a migration option is best suited for large-scale enterprise transitions. With such extensive scale migrations, enterprises can realize cost savings up to 30%, without having to involve any cloud optimizations.

Re-Platforming

Re-platforming is all about migrating applications, and their components, to a cloud-managed platform without having to change the core application architecture. The essential idea is to run applications on the Cloud provider’s platforms, which entails replacing the configuration of the app’s architecture, without worrying about the implementation of developer cycles.

Backward compatibility is an added advantage of re-platforming, as it allows developers to reuse known resources, without going into the nuances of new app development. However, at the same time, re-platforming is a relatively new concept and is yet to gain the necessary traction in the PaaS market.

Re-Architecting

As the name suggests, this method is all about re-architecting existing applications to run smoothly in the Cloud platforms by leveraging the features or services provided by the cloud provider. This feature usually comes into play, when an enterprise is interested in customizing and developing the software within the Cloud, to cater to new ventures or software needs. However, this comes with its own set of disadvantages, which translates into the loss of legacy codes and known development frameworks.

Despite the disadvantages, it is difficult to overlook the advantages it brings with it. When you look at re-architecting as a migration option, it opens up the enterprise’s access to a series of world-class developing tools, which are available on the cloud provider’s platform. Such advantages include the likes of pre-designed customizable templates, along with a set of data models, which can enhance productivity greatly.

Re-Purchasing

Repurchasing often means that old application platforms are discarded with the aim to purchase new ones or to upgrade to the newer versions. Through the repurchasing option, enterprises can deploy the use of SaaS platforms, such as Drupal and Salesforce.com in a more secure, efficient manner. While it comes with its own set of disadvantages, this option offers companies a better view of their app deployment strategies.

Retiring

During the migration process, an enterprise has to do a deeper dive into the list of its owned apps’ this would mean going through every app which needs to be migrated and further trying to understand its uses and cost to the company. If the company feels the app is obsolete or not worth the money and effort of migrating to the Cloud, it can be downsized, and removed from the existing kit — this not only simplifies the cost and translates into saving for the company, but also makes it better for an enterprise to promote scalability and efficiency.

Retaining

This process involves holding back applications from migration which could either attract a significant amount of time in rearchitecting to be able to run in the cloud or are not migration ready as they were upgraded recently and may turn out to be a costly affair if migrated. One may also decide to retain an application if the cloud doesn’t support the app or if there is an existing sunk cost associated with the application.

Depending on the need of the hour and the immediate uses, an enterprise can pick and choose the best available option, when it comes to migrating to the Cloud. An enterprise needs to weigh the pros and cons of the selected method and act on it accordingly. This way, there is a lot of effort which is saved in running old apps in a traditional and unconventional manner.

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Best Practices to Help your Team Migrate to the Cloud

Posted on by Idexcel Technologies

Best Practices to Help your Team Migrate to the Cloud

If any IT organization feels that shifting their workloads to the cloud is as simple as a lift and shift operation, then it must be noted that there is way more than what meets the eye. The cloud has become the preferred choice of services; from small businesses to large enterprises, organizations slowly realize the importance of shifting to the cloud. However, moving to the cloud is not as easy as it sounds; getting there needs extensive planning, forecasting, and lots of reconfiguring to ensure a successful transformation.

To get the most out of the cloud organizations need to be on their toes. To fully harness all that the cloud has to offer organizations need to direct their mindset towards resourcing, operational efficiency, and offline storage. Organizations which don’t consider these factors often end up losing heavily on productivity and in turn suffer from increased costs.

Pre-Migration Stage

Have a Vision Ready: Communicating a central vision to the team is of the utmost importance. It is essential to understand how the overall idea will pan out in the long run. Being able to share the vision with the employees can help the team assimilate the concept and work towards the successful migration eventually.

Share a Well-Defined Plan: By having a governance model ready, the migration can become easy. During the drafting of the project, any loopholes can be addressed through brainstorming sessions. All the questions which arise during the brainstorming sessions can then be answered preemptively.

Train Staff to Handle the Migration: Your team members should be well trained with the nuances of the cloud procedure; this way, everything can be handled without incurring any problems. The better-trained people you have on your side, the smoother the migration to the cloud. Well educated people can be an asset in such movements since they are already familiar with the problems that can occur during the migration procedures.

Migration Stage

Start Small: Don’t try to transfer everything in one go. Instead, concentrate on migrating in bits and pieces, so that everything can be moved without too many hiccups. Break more significant fragments into small segments and then try to migrate to the cloud. Rest assured, efficiency will be enhanced, and the team would be well equipped to transfer everything seamlessly.

Automation is the Key: Automation within the cloud is helpful when it comes to driving efficiency. Spend considerable time in automating the processes and functions within the cloud, so that teams can be empowered to perform and adjust to the migration effectively.

Leverage Fully Managed Services: Organizations can use services like Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and the AWS Directory Service. Through AWS, day to day maintenance can be handled with ease, allowing the team to be freed up.

Post-Migration Stage

Monitor the Results: Post-migration, it’s important to stay abreast of all the changes that were initiated during the migration. Source the results, and the deviances, post-implementation strategies need to be developed to enhance the results and make them more effective. Any loopholes can be plugged, and the findings can pave the path for future migrations.

Use Cloud-Intensive Monitoring: There are a series of tools, which make the task of monitoring results more accessible and more straightforward. Tools like New Relic, App Dynamics, and AWS CloudWatch Logs are some examples of devices which can be used in this regard. Not only will the ops people benefit immensely in the long run, but stakeholders will also have a more precise base to make future strategies.

Cloud migration does not have to be a daunting job, as it is made out to be. With the right approach and techniques, the tasks can be eased out and can make the migration more natural and more effective. With the right partnership between ops and management, the movement to the cloud will be an asset worth maintaining.

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