When a company decides to approach the Cloud-whether it is migrating to CloudFire's Public Cloud but also to the various Public Cloud services such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or Oracle Cloud-one of the most delicate aspects is that of migration.
There are some basic principles to respect, along with some precise methods to implement. Let's see them together.
What principles must cloud migration follow in order to be efficient?
1. Transparency
The user should not notice the change at all.The British use the term Agnostic Free, but we call it Transparency, because from our point of view it is important not only that the process does not affect the end user, but neither does the enterprise software.This is to reduce the impact on the work process, but clearly also to safeguard costs and resources.The principle of transparency responds not only to a seamless implementation of operations, but also positively affects the user experience of all employees in the company.
2. Cloud Native approach
Working in a local environment usually involves sizing the physical part of the server, regardless of the actual use of the tools on a daily basis.
What changes with a Cloud approach? The cloud approach allows for flexible, immediately scalable, timely thinking about changing needs. This happens because of the inherent value of the cloud, which is pay per usage and at the same time requires a new, innovative approach: that of projecting into a cloud-native environment, precisely. The correct transition to the cloud, therefore, requires a timely analysis of the resources needed at the precise given moment, without precluding the possibility of extending them later. With a single click, available resources can be increased, but also decreased: the pay-per-use concept is a given reality that follows the business in a modular way, supporting it when needed, and never becoming a "more." Not only that: this scalable process can also be automated, to experience the world of the Cloud as the premise for truly borderless workspaces.
3. Multicloud
Diversification is often the best solution, in many fields of business. Reasoning from a multicloud perspective paves the way for several advantages. The first, that of improving resilience to potential issues.The second, which prevails, is the advantage of freeing oneself from the lock-in effect, thus retaining flexibility and decision-making power vis-à-vis the service provider, with the consequence of being able to adapt quickly to any changes in scenario imposed a priori.
4. Integration
Networking is not an abstract concept. Making an effective migration must necessarily mean interconnecting with the existing.The goal is to integrate the Cloud with all local operational tools. This is the only way to improve performance at the cloud level and make sure that all instances in the organization interface properly with all physical devices. The cloud, in this sense, is not to be seen as an abstract cloud, gravitating outside the physical workspace, but instead as oxygen for the tools already in place.Integration requires high know-how in network management, and a few strategic tools.
How to make an efficient cloud migration
So what methodologies do we have at our disposal to carry out a migration that is efficient and meets all requirements?
1. Using available technological tools
It is possible to automate the migration process through special tools. An example is Coriolis, an extremely simple and effective tool that enables automated/easy migration to and from VMware, CloudFire Public Cloud, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud.
Without having to install any agents in the guest operating system, the tool creates a copy of the image of the instance to be migrated by automatically injecting the necessary drivers for operation in the destination cloud by replicating the same network configuration.
2. Comprehensive network management
As far as networking is concerned, there are various strategies available:
- MPLS: It is possible to manage the cloud as an MPLS node in order to communicate via private network with the corporate infrastructure and multiple locations. CloudFire offers a Managed MPLS service that can be managed through the Cortex interface. The various zones can be interconnected to L3 but also L2 (VPLS).
- SD-WAN: Expand the network concept through a Software Defined public network approach. CloudFire provides a managed SD-WAN solution that improves network performance by optimising internet bandwidth costs and improving network efficiency.
- CLOUD BRIDGE: Dedicated interconnection from the on-premise data centre to the cloud infrastructure. The connection is made through a private optical fibre managed directly by the Internet connectivity service.
3. Analysis and monitoring
Analysing resource usage using a consolidated method supported by technology is the starting point for comparing the data collected and establishing the best strategy for each situation. Cloud migration thus settles on a clear, transparent perimeter, calibrated to real needs. The activity is carried out using special reference tools for monitoring activities such as Datadoghq, Dynatrace and Prometheus.
4. Automation
The usefulness of a cloud infrastructure is that all components aresoftware defined. This means that anything can be done via APIs and automated via scripts. This makes it possible to automate any deployment, as well as the updating of new releases. This approach allows the implementation of autoscaling systems as well.
The automation of our systems allows you to reduce deployment costs and, above all, to avoid setup errors or problems due to different software versions. In other words, human error is reduced to zero and everything can be automated and become replicable with mechanical precision.
The CloudFire method
The CloudFire approach is innovative, since it takes charge of the more technical and complex aspects of infrastructure and supports developers on a long-term growth path where needed. Our approach is not only about building the infrastructure. It is also about managing the entire process according to the needs of each reality, using expertise in DevOps technologies (Jenkins, Ansible, Terraform, etc.) and employing them for the success of each project.
