How you can Migrate from VMware to AWS Cloud Services
There are many reasons businesses are increasingly turning to cloud services to enhance their operations, improve scalability, and drive innovation. One current drive is the radical changes in VMWare licensing costs which are leading to much higher on-premise costs. Of the many options, Amazon Web Services (AWS) stands out as a leading cloud platform that offers a wide range of services and features to support businesses in their digital transformation journey.
Migration to AWS offers numerous benefits to organisations, from increased flexibility and cost savings to enhanced performance and security. In this article, we’ll explore the advantages of migrating to AWS and outline the key steps involved in the migration process.
Assessing Your Infrastructure
First, you’ll need to assess your existing infrastructure to determine its readiness for migration. This assessment should include identifying critical workloads, understanding application dependencies, and reviewing current IT environments.
Assessing your infrastructure will help you understand which systems are in use and how they interact with one another.
A few key steps include:
- Inventory of Applications: Document all of the applications and services currently in use, along with data dependencies.
- Performance Metrics: Gather critical performance data on your existing workloads. This will inform capacity planning and resource allocation on AWS.
Tools like AWS Migration Evaluator can provide valuable insights into your current infrastructure usage and help you build a data-driven business case for migration to AWS.
By evaluating your portfolio of applications and associated infrastructure, you can identify the scope of migration and create a strategic plan for the transition.
Creating a Roadmap
The next step before embarking on your AWS migration journey is creating a clear roadmap.
A well-defined roadmap outlines the steps involved in the migration process, sets clear objectives, and establishes timelines for each phase of your migration. This will ensure all stakeholders are aligned and the migration stays on track.
Tools like the Cloud Readiness Assessment (CRA) can help gauge your preparedness for a smooth transition to the cloud and provide guidance on creating a pragmatic approach to application modernisation. For time-poor organisations, the assessment can be quite involved, and it may be of benefit to engage an AWS partner such as Cloud Bridge as they will have run these hundreds of times before.
Additional important considerations include:
- Timeline and Milestones: Establish a timeline that outlines key milestones throughout the migration process, including planning, execution, and post-migration assessment.
- Task Assignments: Delegate responsibilities among team members or departments to ensure accountability and clarity.
Engaging Stakeholders
Engaging stakeholders is key to the success of any AWS migration project. From IT teams to executive leadership, stakeholder assessment helps identify key influencers, understand their degree of influence, and keep them committed to the desired business outcomes of the migration.
It’s also important to introduce engagement early, as it fosters alignment and collaboration, which allows organisations to address training and support needs to ensure a smooth transition to AWS.
Moreover, effectively communicating the benefits of cloud migration to all stakeholders can help gain buy-in and mitigate resistance.
Other important things to consider when engaging your stakeholders include:
- Regular Updates: Keep stakeholders informed of progress through regular communication about timelines and expectations.
- Training Sessions: Provide training and resources to teams affected by the migration to facilitate a smooth transition.
Selecting Migration Tools
Selecting the right migration tools is crucial for a seamless transition to AWS. When considering tools, make sure to consider your future needs for ongoing management and optimisation.
Tools designed for different aspects of the migration process can dramatically streamline the journey. A few of these include:
- AWS Migration Hub: this is a central platform for recommending strategies and services, tracking progress, and accelerating the migration process.
- AWS Application Migration Service: this service simplifies the lift-and-shift process by automating the replication of workloads onto AWS.
Evaluating and implementing these tools carefully ensures that you can streamline your migration journey and have a flawless migration experience.
Read our full article covering all aspects of a VMWare to AWS Cloud Migration
Testing Before Going Live
Another critical step in the migration process is the testing phase. This can be achieved through:
- Pilot Migrations: Consider running a pilot project with less critical applications to test your migration process in action.
- Feedback Mechanisms: Gather feedback from users during pilot migrations to understand pain points and areas for improvement.
Performing tests at least two weeks before the planned migration date helps with identifying potential issues and ensures that source servers are ready for migration.
Testing not only confirms functionality but can also help to unearth performance bottlenecks before they become serious problems. That’s why utilising the right tools, such as the AWS Application Migration Service and AWS CloudFormation, is beneficial for conducting tests and avoiding common pitfalls for a successful migration to AWS.
This phase should also involve user acceptance testing to confirm that the system meets the expectations of end users prior to going live.
Monitoring Post-Migration Performance
Monitoring post-migration performance is essential for maintaining the reliability, availability, and performance of AWS solutions.
An established monitoring strategy can alert teams to unusual behaviours or performance degradation. This allows them to address issues proactively.
Some important performance monitoring tools include:
- AWS CloudWatch: this tool enables organisations to collect real-time metrics and ensure that all of the components function as expected in the new environment.
- AWS Cost Explorer: Establish ongoing cost management practices using AWS Cost Explorer to track spending and optimise resource utilisation.
Post-migration testing and ongoing monitoring help verify the success of the migration and can guide necessary adjustments to optimise performance, resulting in enhanced operational efficiencies and improved service delivery.
The Benefits of a VMware to AWS Migration Partner
Many organisations appreciate the value of opting for a migration partner to guide them through the AWS migration process. As detailed above, the journey from VMware to AWS can be complicated, and having an experienced navigator can provide numerous benefits, including:
- Accelerated migration and modernisation
- Enhanced scalability and performance
- Stronger security
- Help with funding and reduced costs
These partners typically possess industry expertise and a wealth of experience guiding organisations through this critical transition. Leveraging the AWS Well-Architected Framework ensures that the migration process is efficient, secure, reliable, and cost-effective.
Additionally, the best migration partners will provide ongoing support after the initial transition, offering insights and management services that continue to enhance performance and optimise resource usage.
By collaborating with experts in VMware to AWS migration, you can unlock the full potential of AWS cloud services and drive digital transformation effectively.
Infographic: VMWare to AWS Migration
Migrating to AWS offers many benefits for organisations looking to enhance their digital capabilities, improve efficiency, and drive innovation. By assessing infrastructure, creating a roadmap, selecting migration tools, engaging stakeholders, testing before going live, and monitoring post-migration performance, organisations can ensure a successful migration to AWS.
To further accelerate your migration and unlock the full potential of AWS cloud services, and to learn more about best practices and tools, read our comprehensive guide: VMware to AWS: Keen Explorers Need Great Navigators by clicking the button below.
Alternatively, you can book a complimentary VMWare to AWS Migration Assessment. We need just 48 hours to run our assessment process and to produce a full report on what would be involved in a move to AWS. Click on the graphic below to register your interest in our Assessment.
