Step by step azure migration strategy

Azure is a robust cloud platform that is well-suited for extensive corporate IT systems that must adhere to rigorous compliance and data security regulations. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the four primary migration methods when planning your move: Rehost, Refactor, Rearchitect, and Rebuild. Whichever of these models you choose will dictate the rest of your Azure migration plan.

Stage 1: Evaluate

Begin by discussing the migration project with all key stakeholders, estimating the total cost of ownership of your existing deployment, and determining which applications in your portfolio may benefit from migration. Evaluate apps to determine their suitability for a cloud environment and the modifications necessary to enable them to operate in the cloud.

Essential factors for the evaluation step include the following:

• Networking — consider establishing a Virtual Network to preserve the performance and stability of your on-premise data center.
• Determine the number of subnets required and the method for managing
• DNS — via Active Directory or the Azure DNS service.
• Storage — review Azure storage options and choose a solution based on the number of operations per second permitted and the data
• type — hot vs. cold. Dara should store cold data on a slow, low-cost medium.
• Scalability — learn about Azure Autoscale and consider using it in your application to scale it dynamically.

This requires detailed cost modeling.

Utilize Azure tools to evaluate applications for migration and receive automated recommendations on CPU, disc size and storage requirements, current network architecture and capacity, performance requirements, recommendations for high availability and resilience, and ongoing maintenance requirements.

The Virtual Machine Readiness Assessment tool automatically inspects tangible or virtualized assets and generates a cloud migration checklist. It generates a report indicating which tasks are transferrable and which need further study.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) toolkit — a migration planning tool that includes an inventory, assessment, and reporting tool for Windows 8.1, Office 2013, Office 365, Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, Hyper-V, and Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track environments. The MAP Toolkit assesses environments and provides information on their suitability for physical and virtualized workloads moving to Azure.

Stage 2: Migrate

You must choose an Azure migration strategy from the four options described in the next section. After deciding on a strategy, you may identify the tools and technologies that will assist you in migrating each of your applications. Begin with a Proof of Concept for several apps that provide significant value to the company and are simpler to migrate, and then go to more complex or lower value applications. Essential concerns for the migration stage include the following: Do you need hybrid cloud solutions from Azure? Are some workloads better suited to Microsoft’s Office 365 ecosystem than to Azure? Do you wish to execute your application on conventional virtual machines, containers, or serverless functions? Are you migrating machines with a larger capacity or with unique hardware needs not covered by one of the Azure VM sizes?

Stage 3: Enhance

Even after an application has been deployed to the cloud and is performing as anticipated, enhance should monitor it constantly to identify opportunities for improvement.

Essential factors to consider during the optimization stage include the following:

• Monitor your expenses and identify opportunities to reduce them via a better mix of Azure services or enhanced automation.
• Monitor performance and verify that you are achieving your migration objectives — either maintaining the same level of performance as the on-premises model or exceeding a new performance target.
• Beyond the immediate migration objective, consider your future steps on Azure — what you can accomplish next and how you can reinvest in new capabilities.

Stage 4: Securing and Managing

Essential concerns for the secure and manageable stage include the following:

Security — understand the new cloud-based application’s security posture, conduct tests to verify that security controls are functioning correctly, and react to anomalies and incidents. Familiarize yourself with Azure’s comprehensive security advice and tools. Protect your data by implementing protective measures such as backup, disaster recovery, encryption, and other appropriate safeguards for your compliance needs and business risks. Azure offers a variety of services and methods to safeguard your data.

Monitoring — awareness that cloud environments are dynamic and that performance is neither static nor guaranteed. Monitor the performance of computing and data services and conduct real-user monitoring using tools such as Azure Traffic Manager, NewRelic, or AppDynamics.