Meaning of Azure Migration
To start with the basics, moving applications or data to Microsoft's public cloud is referred to as an Azure migration. Prior to the company's recent rebranding and name change, it was known as Windows Azure. You should be aware of three definitions.
Public Cloud: A public cloud is an openly accessible virtual environment that is managed by a third party. All the infrastructure is owned and maintained by Microsoft, and innumerable users make use of their services.
IaaS: Microsoft provides Azure in the form of both IaaS and PaaS. Users only have access to the raw resources, such as storage space, with the IaaS (infrastructure as a service) offering.
PaaS: Microsoft provides users with the tools and building blocks they need to create and run apps as part of its PaaS (platform as a service) model.
Azure Migration Process
Assessments Performance: There are a lot of factors to consider if a company’s applications and data are cloud-ready. Generally, this is termed cloud readiness. To ensure a seamless transition, dependencies between applications must be determined, and those managing the transfer must ensure that the data can be extracted and migrated without anything getting lost or corrupted, among other things. Even though the majority of these are not deal-breakers, they will require some degree of finesse to resolve before anything gets touched.
Verification of Company Needs: The company’s requirements will also come to the light. If migration requires dealing with old & problematic legacy software, it has to be primarily addressed. On the contrary, some apps may be time-bound to important events, and thus, their downtime would need to be scheduled when there is less app usage. In order to determine priorities, company executives, the IT team, and the support services handling the Azure migration must collaborate.
As individual apps are migrated, they are given time for testing to ensure that any issues are discovered before going on to the following stage.
Roadmap Layout: These kinds of large-scale transfers typically occur over the course of several weeks, months, or years. To give plenty of time for testing and smooth rollouts, apps and data are migrated one at a time.
Migrate and Test: As individual apps are migrated, they are given time for testing to ensure that any issues are identified before migrating to the following stage.
Monitoring: All apps, including those still in their original "homes," as well as those that have already undergone the Azure migration, should be monitored to ensure their overall health. The organization will need to decide in advance what constitutes a "success" in order to measure the change's success, which is equally vital. In many cases, cost frequently remains a significant consideration. However, reducing downtime may be a measurement, as can user satisfaction, failures, or other metrics.
Azure Migration: Pros & Cons
Benefits of migration include improved operational performance & reduced IT costs but the migration process itself imposes some challenges, such as planning and cost. Below-listed reading is some of the key Azure migration benefits and limitations:
Benefits of Azure Migration
Limitations
READ MORE: A Modern Approach To Cloud Migration Strategy: The 6 R's