How to Successfully Prepare for an AWS Migration: The Mobilize Phase

In our 2nd blog astir nan phases of AWS Migration, we talk nan mobilize phase, stepping you done nan 8 halfway areas to retrieve during this process.

In our first blog astir AWS migration, we discussed really to get started connected nan immense assistance that is migrating your business to nan cloud. The measure shape plays a important domiciled successful preparing for your migration.

In this blog, we’ll look astatine nan 2nd phase, nan mobilize phase, which is nan adjacent awesome measurement successful your AWS migration journey.

What is nan AWS Migration Mobilize Phase?

The “mobilize” shape successful an AWS migration intends to found a functional guidelines for nan migration process and reside immoderate deficiencies identified successful nan measure phase. The mobilize shape streamlines nan migration process by offering clear guidance connected migration strategies.

Per AWS champion practices, you will want to hole a scalable model that will activity for your migration. Generally, this shape tin return astir 2 to six months, depending connected your manufacture and regulations. As we mentioned successful nan first blog, we highly urge utilizing a vendor to make judge your migration is simply a success.

The mobilize shape focuses connected 8 halfway areas:

• Discovery and Planning – Details discovery, migration strategy and activity planning
• Security and Compliance – Ensures architectural creation meets information and compliance requirements
• Operating Model – Details really resources will tally successful AWS
• Landing Zone – Establishes connectivity, governance and security
• Skills and CCoE – Sets up a unreality halfway of excellence (CCoE) and identifies immoderate training requirements
• Business Case – Creates a elaborate business lawsuit utilizing further business points collected during nan mobilize phase
• Migration Governance – Determines who is responsible for what
• Applications Migrated – Identifies aviator migrations to trial architecture and provides hands-on acquisition of nan migration process.

Let’s return a person look astatine what each area intends for your AWS migration journey.

Eight Areas of nan AWS Migration Mobilize Phase

Discovery and Planning

During this phase, your extremity is to execute a very elaborate discovery. This find includes identifying information sources, exertion level information, and establishing a migration strategy. You will uncover elaborate capacity metrics that will assistance pinch allocating and right-sizing target resources connected AWS. Also, work naming and tagging will thief you place patterns and group servers and applications.

Data Sources

Although you and your partner would person already completed immoderate information seizure successful nan measure phase, you now request much elaborate information. This includes dependencies, server web activity and exertion information. You tin past usage this accusation to create nan migration waves.

AWS offers respective services to thief pinch this planning, including AWS Application Discovery Services (ADS), an agent-based find tool.

Application-Level Information

Discovery devices cannot cod each nan accusation required for your migration readying (criticality of your application, business units, work level requirements). You tin cod this other item utilizing nan AWS Migration Portfolio Assessment (MPA) tool. MPA allows users to create a questionnaire to seizure each nan applicable information. Once designed, it sends a nexus to nan exertion owner, and they tin supply nan requested information.

Migration Strategy

The logic you want to cod this accusation is to thief find nan migration strategy for each application. Gartner primitively introduced nan 7Rs concept, which lists 7 unreality migration options: refactor, re-platform, repurchase, rehost, relocate, clasp and retire.

Security and Compliance

AWS follows nan shared work model, meaning nan customer is responsible for what is successful nan cloud, and AWS is responsible for nan information of nan cloud.

When looking astatine information and compliance, you must place nan organization’s needs. You request this measurement to guarantee you correctly configure nan landing area and information controls. Some cardinal areas of information are:

• Identity and entree management – How will you negociate all-around entree of resources, who tin entree what and arsenic good arsenic authentication?
• Logging and monitoring – What will you place arsenic information logging requirements, and really will you show these resources?
• Infrastructure protection – How will nan institution protect infrastructure, firewalls and networks?
• Data protection – What will you place arsenic infrastructure requirements, and really will you find guidance keys?
• Security Incident Response – How will nan institution respond and respond to a information incident?

Operating Model

During this step, you request to reappraisal each nan existing operating models and make updates to support nan would-be situation successful nan cloud. The extremity is to supply best-practices guidance and heighten nan operational exemplary some successful hybrid mode and erstwhile successful AWS. These AWS migration best-practice guidelines would include:

• Design guides for operational areas
• Operational playbooks for applications moving successful AWS
• Identified and trained operational support teams that will interact pinch nan unreality environments.

Landing Zone

A landing area is an AWS situation that acts arsenic a starting constituent for deploying workloads and applications. You should creation this pinch a well-architected, multi-account setup, which includes elements specified arsenic personality management, governance, security, web creation and logging.

AWS offers 2 options for creating a landing zone: utilizing a service-based AWS Control Tower aliases building a civilization landing zone. AWS manages nan erstwhile action and uses automated processes to prevention clip and guarantee a unafraid and scalable environment. The second requires a higher level of AWS knowledge. With Control Tower, you tin usage integrated services for illustration AWS Service Catalog and AWS Organizations to negociate entree to accounts successful nan landing zone.

Cloud Center of Excellence

CCoE is simply a cross-functional squad from crossed nan statement made up of experts connected unreality champion practices. They are responsible for enabling nan statement to usage nan worth of nan cloud. When creating a CCoE, diverseness and cross-functional practice are key. The team’s building should germinate arsenic nan business progresses done nan translator stages.

Ideally, nan CCoE squad will thief alteration business-facing package teams to attraction connected accelerated experimentation and delivering customer outcomes by codifying regular level tasks and champion practices. Your CCoE squad will thief instrumentality accordant patterns and frameworks, truthful teams tin flexibly run according to their unsocial needs and stay wrong nan organization’s governance and compliance standards.

Business Case

During nan AWS migration mobilize phase, you aliases your partner want to supply multiple, highly meticulous information points and create a business lawsuit for nan take aliases reinvention of nan cloud. The business lawsuit should see a total costs of ownership (TCO) analysis comprised of your company’s baseline spend, migration cost, and AWS tally costs. Be judge to see business benefits specified arsenic unit productivity, operational resiliency and business agility.

AWS Migration Governance

Migration governance refers to nan policies, processes and practices an statement follows to negociate and power its migrated data. This includes readying and consequence management, compliance, information information and alteration management. The intent of migration governance is to guarantee you execute your AWS migration efficiently and that it aligns pinch immoderate regulatory requirements. Ideally, you’d for illustration to debar risks and minimize downtime, ensuring that nan migration process results successful a affirmative result for nan organization.

Applications Migrated – Pilot Migrations

This is nan last shape of nan mobilize phase. Here, you tin expect to migrate a fistful (three to five) of aviator applications. These aviator migrations should correspond nan architecture and exertion stack of akin business applications. Once you’ve identified and actioned these aviator applications, this will trial retired nan recently created landing zone. It will besides supply hands-on skills for devices you tin usage arsenic a blueprint during nan migration.

Conclusion

The mobilize shape of an AWS migration is wherever you get into nan nitty-gritty aspects of preparation, moreover opening your first migrations by nan extremity of nan phase. We highly urge partnering pinch a vendor proficient successful migrating exhaustive and mature solutions.

Our adjacent blog will screen nan last shape of AWS migrations, nan migrate phase.