Migration to AWS
Migrating to AWS is not simple and before any real technical work is done, we will need to assess and compile:
Business Requirements, Business Strategy, A Business Case and ROI estimation, Constraints, Current Estate, Gaps, Future Target Model, Gaps and Stakeholder support and expectations.
Agile is the best delivery model for migration and rehosting or replatforming. Do ‘transformation’ later. Get used to the platform first.
1: Identify resources and responsibilities
The pre-planning stage starts with identifying your budget, scope, and schedule. Some of the things you should outline during this phase include:
You can facilitate the process by creating a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) chart. This chart will help you assign roles to specific stakeholders and define their responsibilities during migration.
2: Outline migration teams
Successful migration often has two types of responsible migration teams:
Create a communication plan that outlines change management, reporting, escalation procedures, and communication tools. Usually, the Core Cloud team will drive communications during the AWS migration.
3: Define the project management methodology
A management methodology is a set of tools designed to help you streamline your AWS cloud migration project. Transferring workloads to the cloud requires a clearly defined and practical approach.
AWS Prescriptive Guidance contains proven approaches and patterns to accelerate your migration to the cloud. You can use it as a template for your AWS cloud migration plan.
4: Assess the readiness for cloud operations
This is the fundamental part of the migration process that consists of financial and technical planning.
Convene a small team or teams of SMEs, to gather information about the current architecture. These teams should organize applications in your environment into patterns to determine the costs and timelines for each.
The scale of the migration project can be overwhelming. It would help to adopt the iterative methodology, which means prioritizing applications and moving several apps to the cloud simultaneously in sprints.
The progress can be slow and expensive at first, but your teams will get more proficient as you proceed with the migration.
5: Find an experienced cloud partner
A skilled AWS partner can guide you through the migration process, making it faster, smoother, and, ultimately, cheaper. Use: Automation, Reusable Patterns, Cloud native AWS services, Experience.
6: Planning AWS cloud migration
Primary objective is to review tools and management methods to streamline the migration.
AWS migration tools
Cloud migration is a complex process, but middleware software can help you migrate applications and databases to the AWS cloud with the least effort.
Some valuable tools for AWS migration are:
7: Cloud storage operations
Estimate cloud storage options based on the costs, response time, accessibility, and update consistency. The categories of AWS cloud storage include:
The next step is setting up the foundation for the transfer.
8: Migration strategies
You need to outline a migration plan for each application in your portfolio to figure out what to prioritize:
A well-designed migration strategy will align with your company’s business goals and vision. Just remember that it should help your teams.
9: Application migration options
The most common options are:
10: AWS cloud migration steps
Agile teams with SMEs from applications, infrastructure, testing, operations, and the business. Actual migration process can roughly be split into six steps:
#1 Discovery
Your teams start by gathering info about the applications you prioritized for migration. There are two types of data:
For apps that require optimization or restructuring, confirm the gathered data with the application owner and the Migration Factory team. Rehost apps (that can be moved without changes) are usually analysed in groups of matching patterns.
#2 Design
Develop a Target State document, which will include:
The workflow usually depends on the Infrastructure Architecture document that outlines information about:
This info was aggregated during the pre-planning phase and the discovery step. The engineering and sprint teams will use this data to stage the design for the AWS environment.
#3 Building
Migration teams move the app according to the approved design. Assign roles between stakeholders based on the necessary tools, templates, and other requirements. The teams will use the methodology, strategies, and software you’ve chosen during the pre-planning and planning phases.
#4 Integration
After the transfer, your team works with external service providers to connect the application to the AWS cloud. Work with consumers to test the functionality of each app. Confirm basic validations against the AWS-hosted apps before moving to the next step.
#5 Validation
Prior to the release, the teams have to evaluate each application for:
Verify release management, as well as the rollback plan (in case the AWS cloud migration was unsuccessful). Before moving to the next stage, run parallel testing for applications.
#6 Cutover
Perform the user acceptance test and identify if the migration was successful. In case of failure, you’ll have to roll the migration back according to the plan. The first few tries should give you an idea of how to proceed and which processes require optimization. But here’s the good part: you’ll save significant resources and time if you work with a certified AWS consulting partner who can help you pick the best frameworks, methodologies, and tools.
#7 Operationally Manage the deployment
Hypercare to ensure access, availability, performance. Ensure components are operating as desired. Solicit end user and stakeholder feedback.
#8 Monitor, assess the business case and ROI with actuals
Hold retrospectives with the team(s) and stakeholders. Reflect on what went well and what did not. Assess the deployment against the business case and plan. Ensure that on-going monitoring of costs, budgets and expected ROI is being conducted.
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