Businesses currently are upgrading their latest technologies to stay ahead in different aspects. And one such very crucial upgrade is cloud technology. Cloud technology has made an enormous profit, mostly in the IT sector. There are different cloud service providers like google cloud, IBM cloud, amazon web services, and so much more. But out of all, the amazon web services(AWS) are leading in the game for the last few years for countless reasons. According to statista, during the year 2020, the global cloud infrastructure’s revenue amounts to approximately 32%, with google cloud at 9%, followed by the other hosts. Thus, migrating to AWS has significant benefits.
AWS provides over a count of 100 various cloud computing services. These services are highly beneficial in setting up and managing the company processes in a dynamic, scalable, and automated approach. Even though migrating to AWS has severe benefits, the migration processes could be tough on a few people. Particular challenges might arise during the migration purpose or during AWS usage, which we will address below in this post. We will provide specific solutions to overcome cloud migration challenges, which will help plan out your AWS migration process in the perfect manner!
What Are the Four Phases of AWS Cloud Migration?
Before we jump on to the challenges, let’s first get into some necessary information: the blueprint’s fundamentals for your AWS migration. Here are the four basic steps for a complete migration to AWS cloud technology:
- If you have a full-fledged company, the chances are that you will have several applications for various processes. With so many applications, there could be certain possible challenges that your company faces, which might contribute to losses. Also, identify the reason. Check for all the flaws in your company. What are you migrating for? What is your end goal? Is it to reduce expenses, improve productivity, scalability? This will give a clear picture of your objective. This will be the first building block of the entire plan for an easy AWS migration.
- Now when you are fully well versed with your goals, let’s come to the planning. There are a ton of migration strategies, but you need not implement all of them. You need to choose according to your requirements, so the previous point had a significant emphasis. According to your requirements, you will be selecting the tools you would want to sign up for. The most commonly used tools in the AWS provider are database migration service(DMS), Amazon direct connect, server migration service(SMS), etc. These tools will also help in overcoming cloud migration challenges to a certain amount too.
- Create a detailed migration plan for every application that is a part of this process. You can first try out a few tools and strategies to explore and understand what works best for an easy AWS migration. Arrange the required stakeholders and proceed further to the next step.
- Upon complete confirmation of the tools and strategies, you need to ensure that you turn off the older versions of the applications and operate them within AWS. Work with the plan and choose the next best strategy for the migration of further applications too.
What Are the Possible AWS Migration Challenges and Their Solutions?
Now when we are done with the basics, let’s check out some crucial key challenges in AWS migrations and their solutions. Let’s get started.
Resilient network connectivity
Issue:
Applications require constant network connectivity, but you might encounter connectivity issues, status lags, or pretty much any tense situation during a migration to AWS.
Furthermore, cloud machine instances are never permanent, and therefore, a backup is an absolute necessity.
Solution:
If we consider the computer part indulging a replication or a service that helps with this. A service that will help in the deployment and availability process will be incredibly beneficial and will help retain your machine instances for a longer duration without any hassle.
On the other hand, for network connectivities, Amazon offers active/standby IPSec tunnels, and AWS direct connect service, which are excellent if you carry out the virtual private cloud processes (VPC). You can easily overcome cloud migration challenges like these just by using a balanced combination of both of the networks to keep your company’s network inflow.
Security
Issue:
Cloud technology environments are super secure, and there are certainly no second thoughts here. But security is mostly emphasized in on-premise environments. When you migrate certain applications from one end to another, there could be a prevalent and significant issue called a “security vacuum”. This means that the applications might migrate during the migration process. Still, the transfer of its security tools and regulators might not be successful, which leaves many data and information at risk.
Solution:
In such a case, ensure that your blueprint for an easy AWS migration should contain security and compliance requirements for every application. This challenge in AWS migration can be easily tackled by analyzing the various AWS services that might offer equal or even better security measures both on and off-premises. Incorporating these services during the deployment plan will ensure that every application migrated to the cloud server passes and consists of all the required security measures.
Cost management
Issue:
While switching to an entirely new cloud technology platform, there are high chances that you might miss establishing the right KPIs about your cost management. Cost management is a crucial step and should be one of the top considerations before initiating the migration process. Since there are limitless cloud services and the cost graph might change upon adding newer ones every time. Without proper cost management here, this can lead to sudden downhills in the company’s economic perspective.
Solution:
Here you need to have backup plans on which you can rely for any such unpredictable circumstances. You need to analyze and determine your savings and how much it would add up if you plan on adding new services. Working across various applications, projects, and services, you need to ensure that you do not miss any part and keep a safe gap to take out funds from any new scenario.
Final Thoughts
There could be many more challenges in AWS migration, but the strategy to overcome cloud migration challenges is straightforward and easy. Even though Amazon has taken all the necessary steps and implementations for a seamless and easy AWS migration, yet you can follow the above solutions at any given point if you are facing any challenge during the migration process. Thus, ditch the old platform already and initiate your migration to AWS today to enjoy the cloud benefits!