6KeyConsiderationsWhenMigratingtoAWS

BYASAFYIGALONMARCH15,20160COMMENTS

Everyday,moreandmoreorganizationstaketheplungeandmigratetotheAmazonWebServices
publiccloud.Whattheyleavebehindisthecumbersomenessofthetraditionaldatacenter,but
despitethecloudsbenefitsinscalability,agilityandefficiency,theydiscoveranewsetof
challengesthatneedtobeovercome.

Gartnerestimatesthatmorethan50percentofenterpriseswillhaveadoptedahybridcloud
approachby2017.TransitioningfromatraditionalonpremiseITinfrastructurestoapubliccloud
canbedaunting,however,andsuccessrequiresadifferentmindsetandrangeofskills.Thisshift
canbeparticularlychallengingfortraditionalenterprisesbecausetheyhavealotatstake.Hereare
thefivemainchallengesinmovingtotheAWScloud.

CloudFinances
Differentorganizationshavedifferentfinancialapproaches,andtheirchoicesofITinfrastructure
reflectthisfact.Forsome,theonpremiseapproachofmakingalarge,upfrontcapitalexpenditure
topurchaseinfrastructureandthencapitalizingtheinvestmentovertimemaybethefavorable
optionbecausetheyprefertokeepcompletecontrolovertheirITenvironment.However,for
others,aheavyinitialexpenseisnotideal,soacloudapproachwithonlyongoing,operational
costsismorefitting.Thisoptionmaybeparticularlysuitablefororganizationswithfluctuating
needsonamonthlybasis,asanonpremisesdatacenterwillnotofferthemtheflexibilitythey
require.

Regardlessoftheapproach,itisimportanttocomparetherespectivecostsbeforedecidingwhich
oneismostsuitable.Thebestoptionmaybetocombinebothonpremiseandcloudtocreatea
hybridcloudenvironment.Thiswillallowforsteadyworkloadstobekeptonsitewhileburstsin
demandcanbeprocessedbyanondemand,publiccloud.

Security,Availability
Theideaofhandingoverallofyourdatatoapubliccloudprovidercanbeadauntingbecauseof
theobvioussecurityandavailabilityconcerns.However,publiccloudprovidersmustadhereto
strictcomplianceprotocolsandcanimplementandmaintainmuchhighersecuritylevelsthanon
premiseinstallationsbecausetheyhavemoreavailableresources.

Infact,enterpriseshaveavoidedmigrationtothecloudforalongtimeduetosecurityconcerns.
However,thisisslowlychanging,asITleadersnowrealizethatrunningonthepubliccloud
actuallycanbringtheadvantageofgreatersecuritybecauseAWShasindustrycompliantcloud
infrastructure(HIPAAandPCIDSSstandards,forexample).

Nonetheless,AWScustomersmustunderstandtheirresponsibilityinprotectinguserdataand
implementingaservicelevelagreement(SLA).Formoreinformation,takealookattheAWS
sharingtheresponsibilitymodel.

Rehost(LiftandShift)vs.Rebuild(Rearchitect)
Migrationtothecloudrequiressomeamountofpreparationbeforeinhouseapplicationscanbe
moved.Gartnerdescribesfivedifferentmethodsofapplicationmigration,andtwoofthemare
specificallyrelevantwhendiscussingIaaSrehostingandrebuilding.

Rehosting(alsoknownastheliftandshiftapproach)involvestakinganapplicationandre
deployingittoadifferenthardwareenvironmentwithoutmakingchangestotheapplications
architecture.Althoughthisisaquickfixsolutionthatwillhaveyourapplicationupandrunningon
thecloudquickly,rehostedapplicationsprobablywillnotbeabletoutilizethemainadvantagesof
thecloud(suchashorizontalscalability)becausetheywerebuiltontopofcustomvertically
integratedhardware.Rehostingallowsorganizationstogetawayfromhighonpremises
infrastructurecosts,buttheapproachissuitedmainlytoapplicationswitheasilydefinedpatterns.

Resourceintensiveapps(suchasthoseusedforimagerenderingorbigdataanalysis)aremore
suitedtotherebuild(orrearchitect)approach,inwhichtheoriginalcodeisscrappedand
replacedwithnewcode.Thesetypesofapplicationsnaturallyrelyoncommodityhardwareand
havetheabilitytoscale,sokeepingtheminclosed,onpremisesiloscouldmeanyouendupwith
performanceissuesandhighcosts.

Rebuildingisnaturallyatimeconsumingandcostlyprocess.Thesolution,therefore,lies
somewherebetweenthetwoapproaches,withthemaindecidingfactorsbeingcostandsecurityof
theworkloads.

GetitRightfromtheStart
Atthebeginningoftheprocess,becarefulinselectingwhichappsorservicesyoumovetothe
cloud.Ifthefirstfewaresuccessful,thatwillsetthetoneforthewholemigration.Ifsomeofthe
earlyprojectsfail,enthusiasmforthemigrationwilldwindleandmakeitmoredifficulttocomplete.

Besmartbychoosingprojectsthataremostlikelytobesuccessful,suchasnoncritical
applicationsorservicesthatcanbemigratedeasily.Makesureyourenvironmentistransparent
fromthestartbyusingmodernmonitoringandloggingsystemsthatcancollectlargeamountsof
logdataandthenparseittofindeventsandprovideinsightfulinformation.

Inaddition,knowingyourcloudenvironmentwillsignificantlyincreaseyoursuccessrate.Dontget
tooambitiousandtrytodoitallatonce.Followeachsmallsuccesswithanother,andyourteam
willensureasmoothmigration.

BewareofStaffApprehension
AnydramaticchangewithinanITenvironmentwillfacestaffapprehension.Youmightexpectthe
shifttobemetwithresistancefromcorporatemanagement,buttherealdoubtswillcomefromyour
ITteam.Afterworkingwithonpremiseinfrastructureforyears,administratorswillnotwelcomeany
changestheythinkcouldjeopardizetheirjobs.Helpyourteamembracethisshiftbymakingsure
theyreceivesuitabletrainingtopreparethemforanewsetofchallenges.

LogAnalysisandMetricCollection
OrganizationsmovingtoAWSsuddenlyfindthemselvesmanagingahighlyscalableandhighly
dynamicenvironmentthatrequiresanewtypeofloganalyticsandmetriccollection.Theneedfor
centralizationofdataiscrucialindynamicenvironmentsbecauseoftenyoufindyourselftryingto
troubleshootaproblemonserversthatnolongerexist.

Duringthemostrecentre:Invent,AWSCTOWernerVogelsemphasizedtheneedforcentralized
logcollectionasnecessaryforsuccessinAWSmigration:

ITorganizationssuddenlygainaccesstothousandsofserversrunningmore
applicationsthaneverthatalsowindupgeneratingmorelogfilesthanmostIT
organizationscanpossiblycopewith.Inordertobesuccessfulinthecloud,IT
organizationsneedtorelentlesslymeasurehowbothsystemsandapplicationsare
performing.Theproblemisthatlogcollectionandprocessingispainful.

AlloftheindividualcomponentsVogelsdescribedeachhavetheirownoutputsofimportantlog
datathatneedtobeanalyzed.ToensureasuccessfulAWSmigration,logsfromyourapplications,
infrastructureandS3Accessbucketsandmuchmoreallmustbemonitoredtoensureallofthe
partsofyournewAWSenvironmentareoperatinginawaythatissecure,highlyavailableand
scalable.(TohelpITorganizations,wehavepublishedafreeebookonAWSloganalyticswiththe
opensourceELKStack.)

AWS:AFinalNote
AWSisthepreferablepublic(IaaS)cloudchoiceforenterprisestoday,anditlookssettostaythis
way.ToachieveasuccessfultransitionduringamigrationofworkloadsandproductstoAWS,the
processneedstobecarefullyplannedandimplementedinastepbystepfashionthatwillprove
thebenefitsofthemovetoallofthestakeholders.