Modern companies that are looking for accessible, safe and flexible hosting solutions more and more frequently decide to migrate to the cloud. Since this is a process that many entrepreneurs struggle with, we decided to take a closer look at it and analyze various migration scenarios for AWS, which is the most popular solution these days.
Did you know that we also carry out cloud migration projects for environments such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and other cloud solutions available on the market?
What is AWS and what are its benefits?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been one of the first cloud solutions on the market. It is currently the most extensive, reliable and secure global cloud infrastructure. It enables the complete transformation of business processes by:
- improving flexibility,
- lowering the business risk,
- guaranteeing high efficiency of services,
- improving data safety,
- reducing infrastructure maintenance cost.
AWS supports the scalability and growth of your business. It is a unique combination of quality and versatility, reflected in the wide range of tools offered and the vast number of available APIs. The cloud gives you more possibilities than any other environment and allows you to automatically scale resources. This is why migration to the cloud is especially recommended for those companies and institutions whose systems and applications are exposed to variable, dynamic loads. We must not forget that migration to AWS is an iterative process that evolves as your organization grows, allowing it to discover new tools and business opportunities.
Ways of migrating to AWS
Migration to the cloud means primarily:
- designing a scalable cloud solution,
- configuration of appropriate resources in the cloud,
- installing required system components,
- migrating data to the cloud,
- optimization of resource operation,
- choosing the right apps to help you manage resources.
If you are planning a cloud migration, it is worth knowing that there are three possible migration scenarios. You should select the best one among them, according to the needs, objectives and capabilities of your company. What are the available options and what are their characteristics?
- Re-host (also called lift and shift) is the easiest, cheapest and fastest migration strategy. It consists of moving applications to AWS without making any changes. It is most often used in case of large, advanced projects, where companies want to achieve their business goals as soon as possible, without investing a lot of time and money in migration. In this case, any optimizations or changes to the architecture are only made after the completion of the migration process, when the whole application is already functioning in the cloud.
- Re-platform (also called lift, tinker and shift) is a strategy that also assumes that no changes can be made in the basic information architecture. Unlike the “lift and shift” strategy it includes one additional element called “tinker”, which means a possibility of minor AWS optimizations to achieve measurable benefits. The undoubted advantage of this strategy is the minimization of the incurred costs and the level of customer involvement. It is most often (although not always, of course) treated as a temporary solution intended to bring quick, tangible benefits and used only when the main factor determining the method of migration is time. It a middle way between “re-host” and “re-factor” methods.
- Re-factor/Re-architect - it is usually the most expensive, but also in case of products well suited to the market, the most advantageous migration strategy. It is primarily directed to companies with large business needs, especially adding new features, scaling the platform or increasing its performance. It consists of rethinking the application architecture and redesigning it from scratch. An example would be migrating from monolithic to a server-less type of architecture. This strategy requires considerable financial investment and active client involvement. Its main goal is to significantly improve the efficiency and continuity of applications.
How to choose the best way to migrate to AWS?
Faced with the need to choose one of the three available migration strategies, many different aspects need to be considered, such as the reasons for moving to the cloud, financial and business constraints, as well as the time and human resources that will have to be involved in the project.
So how do you choose the best strategy for your company? First of all, by starting with defining expectations and then translating them into real-life possibilities. An in-depth analysis of the application which is to be migrated is also necessary. It is worth paying attention to its architecture, possible license obligations, or general business requirements.
The choice of an appropriate migration strategy is undoubtedly a difficult task. However, cooperation with the right business partner who will analyze your business processes and the applications that you use will certainly help you make the right decision.
Being the Integrator 2.0, Euvic comprehensively supports the implementation of even the most complex IT projects by carrying out migrations, producing, maintaining and integrating software, as well as providing and managing infrastructure. Having met a number of competence and business requirements set by Amazon, we have been awarded the “Advanced Consulting Partner” title which is awarded only to 8% of all AWS partners. Over the years, we have obtained several AWS certificates. We have also implemented migration projects many times, using each of the three available strategies. Today, we know the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, and we use the knowledge and experience gained to support the business successes of our clients, convincing them every day that the migration process can be painless.
