Cloud Migration Patterns Explained

Do you know what cloud migration is? Well, it is simple. The process by which companies move their on-premises data completely or partially to the cloud network is known as Cloud migration patterns.

This process is not as simple as it looks. It can include moving the services and other applications from the company’s premises to the cloud.

Cloud migration is suitable for many small and large companies because of its scalability, low cost, and that it can be easily managed.

Companies need to merge their on-premises IT infrastructure with a highly scalable hybrid cloud solution.

A proper cloud migration strategy needs to address the short and long term aim of the company, like reducing the host’s cost and aligning the objective of IT and Business operations.

10 of the Cloud Migration Patterns

Here, an application or service is re-hosted, or we can say it is moved to the cloud from the current on-premises infrastructure of the company.

The pattern consists of multiple cloud platforms and their services accordingly. Now, the company has to choose whether to host its services or applications in a multi-cloud environment or a single cloud environment.

Benefits and Risks: Re-hosting helps a company to back up its data on the on-premises infrastructure and can reduce the chances of the failure of the application.

Some risks are there while migrating, such as deployment time, increased cost, and integration errors. Also, it can lead to complexity.

Here, an application is hosted on the on-premise infrastructure of the company, but it uses cloud services to extend its applications further instead of using the services of the on-premises components. This is done by integrating the infrastructures of on-premise and cloud.

Benefits and Risks: It helps in improving TTM (Time to Market) a particular application since it is conceived. This also has some risks like the integration of both the infrastructures will lead to the complexity of the process.

The companies need to enhance the performance of an application without changing its architecture while reducing costs.

Here, an application is relocated, or we can say that it is re-hosted on the cloud platform, and the app is using cloud services only, but the architecture of the application remains unchanged.

Benefits and Risks: Companies can now use good cloud platform services like Iaas and Paas, which will help in increasing the performance of the application.

When an application is hosted on the cloud premises, it is challenging to re-architect an application.

Applications are needed to be enhanced without a change in its architecture. Here, an application which is re-hosted on a cloud platform is enhanced by using some services of another cloud platform.

These services can be environmental services. This change can help a company to save the cost of making any changes in the application architecture.

Benefits and Risks: Application can be hosted on multiple cloud platforms, which will also help in improving app availability and also help in avoiding vendor lock-in.

There’s a risk as some cloud providers do not enable an application to run into multiple could platforms without re-writing its code.

Some applications are not agile enough that they can respond to variations in it and also the application is not able to take advantage of the Service Level Objectives (SLO) improvements that some cloud platform offers.

Here, the application is re-architected, and some high usage components are deployed, which can be optimized independently.

It also supports creating parallel designs and some components which can also work independently.

Benefits and Risks: It increases the scalability and performance of the application. Here, we get a wider range to deploy multi-cloud options and can also respond to IT changes.

A user needs to re-evaluate the data integrity approach just because of the presence of a multi-cloud environment.

When an application is re-architected, it may not be necessary that all of its features will be suitable for deployment on the Cloud migration patterns.

Some mechanisms are required to integrate such components so that the applications can be deployed.

Therefore, a component adapter can be adapted so that a user can integrate on-premise components and cloud components.

Benefits and Risks: A company can secure its sensitive data and can keep it in-house.

Also, there’s a risk that it may cause vendor lock-in and also, integration may be dependent on some specific could platforms. You need to cross-check it.

When an application is re-hosted, it may lack appropriate service interfaces that are needed for integration.

Here, an interface is implemented to provide access to such components that are re-hosted on cloud platforms.

Benefits and Risks: The applications can operate independently as well as they are dependent on each other. It is called loose coupling.

Here, one element has knowledge of another element. Sometimes it lacks a suitable API to work with.

When a company hosts any application on cloud-based platforms, they are aware of the fact that the cloud services can get disrupted due to any natural disaster like Hurricane or Tsunami.

So they are advised to host the application on multiple cloud platforms, but it should be done partially, and some part of it should be hosted on-premises.

If one component fails, then the application can be run through the second component/platform.

Benefits and Risks: Easy flow of traffic can be seen throughout the application, and even the system can be made responsive.

However, this does not guarantee a seamless experience. There can be application downtime as well.

There are some components present in each application that is not needed by the company and do not meet the requirements.

So these types of components can be removed and ignored while hosting on cloud-based platforms.

Benefits and Risks: This helps in saving the cost of re-engineering of the application and also saves time. Replacements are also difficult when an application is hosted on the cloud. Keep this in mind.

When an application is re-architected, it does not guarantee that the inconsistencies or some duplicate functionalities will get removed.

Applications are needed to be analyzed to identify the opportunities for sharing through different components.

Benefits and Risks: When two components are sharing information for combined operations, the company can save the cost of maintenance of an application as well as a server but will lack the commitment to share capabilities.

Some of the Best practices to follow for Cloud Migration

Mapping a Migration Strategy:

One of the best things you could do is to map out the best migration strategy for your business, which is inclined to your business objectives, which enables you to move to the cloud.

Creating a Cloud Governance Framework:

During a Cloud migration patterns phase, you should keep a check on the security of your application as well as the user’s data.

A good cloud governance framework should be developed, which will help in defining the way of doing things like following procedures, working with tools, etc.

so that the company can work with minimum risk and maximum output.

Networking:

Public networks are used as default by the public cloud service providers, which raises the concern about the security and speed of such providers.

AWS and Azure offer some dedicated network connections bypassing the internet. So design a proper cloud architecture before migrating to the cloud and map the important resources which will be needed by your company.

Automation:

Automation should be done wherever possible. This will help you reduce the time and also reduce the errors as automation will help you in analyzing repeated patterns and will work accordingly.

This speeds up the process and lowers the risk and cost.

Understanding Workloads:

Before migrating to the cloud platforms, you should understand the type of workload your company is having. It includes your applications and their environment.

Know whether a new workload is needed or your existing workload is suitable for cloud-based platforms. Measure the performance of your current environment and analyze why you need to move to the cloud.

Comparing & Selecting Different Cloud Migration Patterns

Conclusion:

If your organization is growing, then your architecture is not going to remain static. It will keep on evolving, making new integrations and workflows.

Integration is not an occasional activity; rather, it is an essential process. Ultimately, the integration will help an organization continue innovating to transform itself and its operations, which will help in delivering the best products and services.

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