Today, organizations are exploring various cloud services to host their applications and data. Essentially they want to migrate some or all of the applications and data to the cloud for business reasons – flexibility, scalability, operational savings, and many more important benefits like having a tested and proven infrastructure.
What is Cloud Migration?
Cloud migration is the process of taking your applications, data, and infrastructure from a traditional hosting environment to a public or private cloud service provider. It could be an existing service provider – like Amazon Web Services – or a new one you work with specifically for this purpose.
The starting point is usually a data center that provides a virtualized hardware infrastructure. You must prepare this infrastructure so that the migration process works smoothly and securely, with an eye towards cost reduction and future scalability.
The cloud service provider will provide a similar but virtualized environment – which you need to configure and optimize for your applications – along with any cloud-specific software or services required for successful operation.
Benefits of cloud migration
There are different benefits of cloud migration services, including;
1. Reliability and Flexibility
The cloud is a built-in, scalable infrastructure that responds quickly to changing business needs. You can often increase or decrease resources as needed without adding hardware investments. And you have access to a world of applications and services from reputable providers through published APIs.
2. Cost Savings
With cloud migration, you pay for only what you use, allowing you to reduce data center costs and operational expenses. Cloud providers operate highly efficient infrastructures that cost up to 3-5 times less than an in-house solution.
3. Security
The provider’s infrastructure is built with security as a top priority. It includes the physical safety of the hardware and the data center and automated security management and monitoring.
Cloud Migration Process
There are several steps to take before you start with cloud migration
1. Business Case Development
As part of business case development for cloud migration, you need to understand what your company needs from this move. What services do you want to migrate, and what new services do you want to gain from the cloud? Are there any specific security requirements that must be met? What is your timeline for migration and deployment, and can your existing infrastructure support it?
2. Data Center Prep
You need to take a close look at who has access to your data center, whether physical or virtual. You need to ensure that only authorized people have access as you prepare for cloud migration, as unauthorized activities can set back your project by weeks or even months.
3. Preparing Your Network
The process of a cloud migration involves moving your data and applications to a public or private cloud, but you will still need access to the Internet. During the transition period, it can create challenges with bandwidth utilization and security threats. You want to ensure that your network infrastructure is ready for increased traffic and threats.
In a nutshell, cloud migration is a process of moving applications and data from a traditional hosting environment to a cloud service provider, intending to take advantage of flexibility, scalability, operational savings, and other vital benefits. The process typically involves multiple steps such as business case development, data center preparation, and network infrastructure readiness.
