Application Migration
Overview
Application Migration is the process of moving an application from existing Infrastructure to other environment’s, this can be from on-premise to a cloud or from one cloud to another cloud. The driving factor for application migration can be Business, Technology or Market trend. Application Migration and Modernization services provide benefits like agility, scalability, performance and reduced cost for an organization.
Application Migration Process
The migration process has to be well planned and executed so that the organization takes the benefits of the migration. Plan the migration with proper contingency plan to minimize disruption and ensure successful migration.
- Identify the Migration Goals.
- Evaluate the Application Portfolio & IT Infrastructure – Estimate TCO and ROI.
- Identify and Discover the Components to Migrate.
- Identify Interdependencies & Technical Complexity.
- Identify the Migration Service, Tools and Methods.
- Identify & Prepare Destination Environment for Infrastructure, Security & Compliance.
- Create Migration Plan with Deployment Documents.
- Backup Data & Application.
- Migrate Application / Data / Components.
- Test & Validate Migration.
- Monitor & optimize.
Application Migration Tools:
A cloud migration tool assists to move from on premise to the cloud or between two cloud environments. Few questions to bear in mind while considering Migration Tools like end-to-end migration Support, Pre-migration assessment, Compatibility, Analytics Dashboard and Report Generation to view the Performance and provide insight to the Support Team post migration Activity.
Use Case
Here is some Typical use case for Application Migration based on Business Needs.
- On-premises to cloud migration – migrating applications from on-premises to cloud environments, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
- Legacy system modernization -migrating applications from older legacy systems to modern environments when Outdated development, design, and architecture approaches are used.
- DC consolidation – consolidating servers and DC for simplified management and efficient IT Architecture.
- Cloud to cloud migration- migrating applications from one cloud environment to another, such as from AWS to Azure or vice-versa.
- Hybrid cloud migration – migrating applications to a hybrid cloud environment, where some applications remain on-premises and others are moved to the cloud.
- Application Modernization – modify applications to take advantage of cloud-specific features and architectures, such as serverless computing or containerization.
Application Migration Benefits:
Application Migration provides better IT Infrastructure.
- Business Agility.
- Time to Market.
- Cost Reduction.
- Scalability & Performance.
- Increased Speed for Business Process.
- Enhances Security.
Challenges in Application Migration
Migration requires careful planning, Assessment of Technology landscape, application portfolio, Testing Plan and Performance insight to overcome challenges in the target environments. Here are some common challenges in application migration:
Compatibility issues: The new environment may not be compatible with the application or its dependencies. This could result in failure of Application functionality.
Compliance: Intense Care must be taken to secure industry specific data during Application Migration Process. The most challenging is the Security PCI DDS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) data which process credit card details, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) which process sensitive health data, GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation) which process personal data.
Data Security: Data loss or corruption can occur during migration. If the application to be migrated contains sensitive data, then we need to plan for security validation & testing plan at an early stage in the migration planning process so that the target environment is safe.
Downtime: During migration, the application may experience downtime, which can result in lost productivity and revenue for the organization. Prioritize migration of Business-Critical application with suitable Backup plan.
Performance issues: The new environment may not provide the same level of performance as the old environment, leading to application slowdowns and other performance issues.IT organizations should determine the performance indicators to monitor the KPI with help of Monitoring Tools Dashboard & Reports Pre and post Application Migration Activity.
Integration issues: Applications often rely on other applications or services to function correctly. Migrating an application to a new environment could cause integration issues, leading to application failures. Hence application inter dependencies to be planned.
Cost: One of the benefits of Application Migration is reduction in Cost on a long run but there is upfront cost on hiring resource, licensing cost and Training. The cost estimation tools can help organizations to plan and budget for application migration projects to get best value for their investment in cloud. Eg: Cloudamize, Cloudyn, AWS TCO Calculator, Microsoft Azure Pricing Calculator and Google Cloud Platform Pricing Calculator.
Some real-time examples of application migration:
Netflix migrated its video streaming service from on-premises data center’s to AWS.Dow Jones migrated its customer-facing applications to the cloud for improving application performance. Overall application migration can provide significant benefits in improving performance, agility, scalability and cost reduction.
Appropriate type of application migration will depend on the specific needs and goals of the organization. Suitable migration strategy to be adopted based on the complexity of the application and the resources available for the migration project.
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