What is AWS?
AWS stands for Amazon Web Services and is a cloud-based solution that is provided by Amazon. AWS is currently being used by millions of customers, businesses, and government agencies. In addition to this, it has 175 web services with data centers across the globe. Furthermore, AWS is scalable, customizable, and innovative.
What is AWS Migration?
In essence, AWS migration is the transferring of data from one cloud service to Amazon, or it could also be the transfer of data from on-premises to the cloud. A lot of data that businesses generate every day and store on-premises is a costly and ineffective process, so transferring the data to the cloud is a much safer and reliable measure since AWS gives you tools to take care of the data, including AWS auto-scaling.
Why should we migrate to AWS?
As per the recent stats, it is predicted that more than 1/3rd of the data would go through the cloud by 2020. Keeping this in mind, there are other reasons as to why you should seriously consider migrating to AWS, such as:
- Update your current IT base
- Equipt yourself for the future
- Minimal setting up costs
- Security
- Ramp up the business agility
- Your website is now getting heavy traffic
- Recover data in case of loss
How do we migrate to AWS?
Well, if it is an on-premises server that you used to store the data, then you can migrate your data to AWS using the following steps:
Step 1
Opportunity & Evaluation
It is well documented that 70% of IT projects cannot succeed, and an additional 60% of dev-ops are unable to achieve or bring nothing to the table. The problem can be rooted back to a lack of understanding in the planning process. It would help if you kept in mind numerous core things when you consider migrating, such as your property, the apps, the data, motivations, stakeholders’ goals, and the budget. One of the first things that you need to keep in mind is the Business Architecture Overview; to develop this, the following items need to be done:
- Understand the business requirements.
- The vision
- Stakeholder buy-in
- ROI and business plan
Step 2
Portfolio and Planning
In this step, you need to inspect configuration management databases (CMDBs) and tools like AWS Discovery Service or RISC Networks to understand better what’s in the environment. Once you have this knowledge, you can create a strategy to approach critical phases of migrations, i.e., Application and Data Migration.
- The licensing process is a complex one, and you need to keep this in mind with AWS migration.
- In case you operate a large mainframe, you might need to integrate them accordingly with an SOA/Cloud-Native Application, which will create a hybrid architecture.
- If any of your apps are dependent on one another, then you may need to create a strategy to move them to the cloud without disrupting the order in which they are dependent.
Step 3 & 4
Designing, Migrating & Validating Applications
When migrating, you need to move the least complex app, learn the target platform as you relocate, and then slowly migrate all of your more complex apps onto the system. In addition to this, the team’s Cloud Centers of Excellence help the companies to migrate more effectively without running into any problematic issues. As you move towards the AWS servers, you need to test and decommission the old system simultaneously. These two systems need to be run parallel to ensure that everything is being tested in real-time.
Step 5
Modern Operating Model
The best strategy to optimize AWS is to automate everything. In addition to this, DevOps is also a practical path that businesses can take to achieve this. Once you have done this, you need to go back to the ROI and the business plan to ensure that the stakeholders are satisfied. The end-users are happy that management changes have taken place to facilitate the shift of the DevOps-centric structure. Lastly, it would be best to evaluate whether you are using the AWS foundation architecture to transform the business because the business plan’s transformation is the primary goal of shifting to AWS.
Sunvera can help you implement the right software solution for your business while helping you reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Contact us for a FREE 2-hour AWS consultation.
