Planning and Finding solutions for any new Migration &

Deployment (Infra level)

Description:
Azure provides a powerful cloud platform that is highly suitable for large enterprise IT
environments with stringent compliance and data protection requirements. When
planning your migration, it is worth considering the pros and cons of the four key
migration strategies: Rehost, Refactor, Rearchitect and Rebuild. Depending on which of
these models you pick will determine your entire Azure migration strategy.

Migration:
We can migrate the following from on-prem to Azure.

 On-prem Windows Servers

 On-prem Databases
 Migrate Hyper-V VMs with Server Migration

Pre-requisites:

 Basic knowledge of Azure and its Services.

 Azure Account with a Subscription
 User with appropriate role and permissions to handle the migration.
 Knowledge about the cost-optimization

Preparing for Migration:

Microsoft Azure recommends dividing the migration into four key steps, including:

1. Assess
2. Migrate
3. Optimize
4. Secure and Manage
Step 1: Assess
Create a Migration Plan
 Before beginning a migration, business leaders must work to get all crucial team
members are on board, it becomes much easier to create buy-in and instill
confidence throughout your organization.
 Create a detailed plan of what you hope to achieve your migration, with particular
emphasis on the organizational outcomes that wait on the other side. The planning
phase is also a great time to evaluate the skillset of your organization, begin training
and preparation for Azure, or bring in the help of a trusted cloud partner who can
train, consult, and guide you every step of the way.

Evaluate Costs

 Next, it's time to evaluate the cost of migration. Calculating the Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) of your existing system will help you establish a baseline for
comparison with your projected costs in the cloud.
 The Microsoft TCO Calculator is a valuable tool designed to evaluate your projected
Azure TCO based on your on-prem server infrastructure, databases, storage, and
bandwidth.
 These totals will likely help guide your decision making as you refine your migration
strategy and continue planning in the following steps.

Discover and Evaluate Apps 

 To better understand which applications are ready for the cloud, a thorough
inventory must first be taken.

 Microsoft cloud migration assessment tools are designed to help you map out your
current applications and take a comprehensive inventory of existing server
infrastructure.

 Azure Migrate is just one of the tools available to assist in the discovery and analysis
of your different VMs and app environments and identify their readiness for the
cloud.
 Key considerations for the assessment stage:

 Networking—look into creating a Virtual Network to maintain the same

performance and stability you had in the on-premise data center. Check how

many subnets you will need and how DNS will be managed—via Active Directory

or the Azure DNS service.

 Storage—review Azure storage services and select a solution according to the

allowed number of operations per second, and the nature of the data—hot vs.

cold. Cold data should be stored in slow.

 Scalability—learn about Azure Autoscale and consider using it to dynamically scale

your application. This requires careful cost modeling.

Step 2: Migrate
Microsoft Azure defines four key cloud strategies to consider:

 Rehosting (also referred to as "Lift and Shift") - Involves migrating applications as-is

into the cloud.

 Refactoring – This option involves making modifications to your existing applications

to maximize efficiency and make them compatible with Microsoft products in the
cloud.
 Rearchitecting – Rearchitecting takes your application one step further by changing
the application code base altogether in preparation for the cloud. With fundamental
code changes in place, your app will be ready for the latest Azure products and
modifications, while still maximizing any value gained from your original application
itself.

 Rebuild – If your applications aren't ready for the cloud, you may choose to rebuild
instead. In this strategy, organizations can eliminate applications that are too old or
outdated to function in the cloud and begin from scratch with cloud-native products.

Key considerations for the migration stage:

 Do you need to leverage Azure’s hybrid cloud solutions?

 Are some workloads suitable for Microsoft’s Office 365 environment and not for
Azure?
 Do you want to run in traditional VMs, in containers or using serverless functions?
  Do you need to migrate machines that have a higher capacity or special hardware
requirements that are not supported by one of the Azure VM sizes?

Step 3: Optimize

It is in this step that organizations can begin to fine-tune their cloud experience to ensure
they're making the most of all Azure has to offer. Optimizing your cloud experience can be
done in a few different ways:

 Financial Tracking – Keeping a close eye on costs with the Azure Cost

Management tool can help to identify where you can beef up or cut back on your
cloud usage.

 Reinvest Savings to Maximize Value – One of the main benefits of any cloud
transformation is the return in time and resources that are no longer used,
maintaining old or outdated systems. Use your newfound freedom to reinvest into
innovations and projects within your organization, and amplify the value of your
cloud transformation both now and in the future.

Key considerations for the optimization stage:

 Monitor your costs and see how to optimize them with a better mix of Azure

services or improved automation.

 Monitor performance and ensure you are meeting your migration goals—

providing at least the same performance as you were with the on-premises

model, or hitting a new performance target.

 Beyond the immediate goal of migration, plan your next steps—what you can do

next in Azure and reinvest to gain new capabilities.

Step 4: Secure and Manage
Continuing to reap the benefits of your cloud migration overtime will require strict
security and maintenance across all applications.

 Azure Security Center – The Azure Security center offers a full-time view into the
security of your cloud through a simple dashboard, helping you quickly identify
security breaches caused by rapidly changing workloads and even the most
advanced attack methods.
 Azure Backup – fully back up your application data in the cloud to prevent costly
outages, downtime, or security breaches.
 Azure Monitor – keep a close eye on the usage, health, and activity across your
various applications and VMs. Detect dependencies in your applications, streamlined
approach to monitoring your entire cloud infrastructure.

Once you reach this step, your journey will consist of consistent monitoring, improving, and
tweaking your cloud experience to help achieve maximum value over time!

On-Prem to Azure: Special Considerations

With the right planning, preparation, and strategic execution, a move from your on-prem
infrastructure to the Azure cloud could be just what you need to shift the trajectory of your
business success. But before you jump head-first into the cloud, there are a few things to
consider along the way.

Check Your Compliance – Keep in mind, just because your cloud provider is
compliant, doesn't mean your organization is. While Microsoft Azure has a wide
range of compliance certifications across the globe, there is still a responsibility on
the part of the organization to maintain legal compliance as well.

Before you begin your cloud venture, ensure that your organization has met any
necessary standards for your unique industry so you can jump into the cloud with
ease.

Read the Fine Print - Educate yourself on any contractual agreements required by
your cloud. Will you be required to use specific software when you join?

Will you be limited to a select list of approved partners? Reading the fine print
before jumping into a cloud commitment is always a wise choice, no matter which
provider you choose.
Avoid the "One-Size-Fits-All Mentality" - Just as your business is unique from every
other organization in the world, so should be your cloud strategy.

Take careful time to assess the health of your organization as you plan your
migration to ensure you're making the decisions that will most benefit you in the
long run.

Don't be afraid to ask for help! - Cloud migrations are anything but simple and
require a complex set of skills and understanding. To maximize your investment, we
recommend finding a trusted cloud partner that can guide you along the way.
Licensed Microsoft Partners have the skills and experience needed to take your
migration from inception to the finish line and beyond.