Your Checklist For Moving to the Cloud

So you’ve decided to commit to the cloud? It’s a big step into the unknown, with plenty of risks involved, or it would be if you were making the shift unprepared. ITque has put together a cloud database migration checklist to make sure you have all the information you need to make this change as painless and stress-free as possible.

STEP 1: MIGRATION ARCHITECT

Someone has to take the reins for your cloud migration, and the migration architect does exactly this. This person plans and completes every aspect of the migration, with the core responsibility being strategy. They determine the cloud requirements, data transfer priorities, and switchover methods.

STEP 2: CLOUD INTEGRATION

Two methods are available to you for your cloud migration plan. The first is shallow cloud integration, which allows you to move on-premise applications to the cloud, so long as you make very limited server changes. The second method is deep cloud integration, which modifies your application to take full advantage of the cloud environment.

STEP 3: SINGLE OR MULTI-CLOUD

Are you looking for a single cloud provider or do you need a cloud migration strategy to account for multiple cloud providers? A single cloud provider means your application only needs to be optimized for that environment, but multiple cloud providers give you access to more options. It all depends on the application you’re trying to move.

STEP 4: CLOUD KPI

Key Performance Indicators are metrics on your application or service to measure how well it performs against your expectations. There are several KPIs to keep in mind, including:

• User Experience
• Application Performance
• Infrastructure
• Business Engagement

STEP 5: PERFORMANCE BASELINES

When creating your migration-to-the-cloud checklist, establishing performance baselines is necessary to measure pre- and post-migration performance of your application. This data ensures you are making an effective move and if the data is off, you need to make a few tweaks.

STEP 6: MIGRATION COMPONENTS

You need to determine whether to migrate your entire application at once or piece by piece. You should identify your services and see which ones depend on others. If a full move won’t have an adverse effect on any of your components, then you have your answer.

STEP 7: REFACTORING

Re-factoring your application ensures it runs well in a new environment and scales as needed, using resources more efficiently, and that it’s more service-oriented. Keeping things as simple as possible negates any potential risk.

STEP 8: CREATE A PLAN

Now that you’ve set the stage and followed these migration-to-the-cloud steps, it’s time to create a plan of action. The data migration is the toughest part of the migration, so having a detailed plan in place on what is moving when and where is essential. This migration is complex below the surface and not to be underestimated. Diligence and careful consideration are well worth the time invested.

STEP 9: PRODUCTION SWITCH

Switching over to cloud production doesn’t have to be difficult. Depending on your on-premise services, you’ll either make one big production transfer or move them over one piece at a time.

STEP 10: REVIEW

Almost finished: Your final task is to review every angle of your new cloud services to check resource allocation and proper distribution. If you need to allocate additional resources, you’ll determine where these need to be made using an in-depth review.

Cloud migrations have many risks if you aren’t careful. However, if you follow these steps, you’ll never run into any issue you can’t resolve. Stay strong, and if any issues come up that you aren’t comfortable tackling alone, know that you can rely on ITque to help you through it.