Cloud Migration

MIGRATING TO Cloud

Approach

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Cloud Migration Approach

ContentsIntroduction...........................................................................................................................................2

Cloud Migration.....................................................................................................................................3

Suggested Approach..............................................................................................................................4

Feasibility...........................................................................................................................................4

Usage.............................................................................................................................................4

Commercialisation.........................................................................................................................4

Technology....................................................................................................................................4

Impact and Business Case..................................................................................................................5

Define Roadmap and implement.......................................................................................................5

Proposition............................................................................................................................................5

Time Frames......................................................................................................................................6

Ver 1.0 P K Mallik Page 1 of 6


IntroductionThe Cloud model has been gaining momentum as it is seen as providing significant advantages over hosted services and in-house data centres. These are mainly in the following areas:

Move from CAPEX to OPEX Pay as you go for services and capacity utilisation Quicker Provisioning of Hardware and Platform Meet Fluctuating Demand and Unpredictable Load Integration across different services made easy Upgrades are relatively hassle free

However the cloud models also have some significant disadvantages as follows:

Can lead to unexpectedly high charges if administrators do not adapt to the cloud pricing model

Users would lose some control over IT assets Vendor Lock-in is likely due to the different ways in which cloud is implemented Not all software, versions and tools are supported so a certain amount of re-engineering and

feature degradation should be expected

Some of the common cloud models are as follows:

Software as a Service – SaaS – used by Microsoft, Apple, SAP

Platform as a service – PaaS – Popularised by Azure, Google

Infrastructure as a service - IaaS – More of a hosting service positioned as cloud. Popularised by Amazon

Others

• Hardware as a Service – HaaS – Not really cloud, old leasing model in new clothes

• Everything as a Service – EaaS – nothing really, could fit business process outsourcing

This document examines the different models, looks at migration approach and suggests a way forward to implement cloud computing with a view towards a quick RoI and minimum risk



Cloud MigrationWhile new applications can be designed to be deployed on a cloud architecture, migrating an existing application to a cloud model can be a tricky issue. The following model outlines the different strategies which may be adopted based in the target cloud model:

Migrate to Approach DescriptionIAAS Port When moving to an infrastructure cloud the application would

mainly need porting with some minor design and code changesPAAS Re-Architect It would be necessary to re-architect applications not just to get

maximum benefits but also to enable the application to scale and manage loads on the cloud platform.Re-architecting would also enable cloud based features to be offered as a service

SAAS Outsource Unlike products software service offerings are outsourced to third party providers.Where companies are running their own private cloud certain speciality services may be outsourced as an extension of the private cloud



Suggested ApproachIn order to successfully migrate applications on to cloud environment, the following three step approach may be useful:

1. Determine the feasibility of migration to cloud2. Identify the impact, define roadmap and build a business case3. Define roadmap and implement

FeasibilityIn order to determine feasibility the target application will need to be evaluated along the following parameters.

Usage Commercialisation Technology

A typical feasibility study and analysis would take between 1 to 2 weeks.

UsageThe usage identifies the nature of the user group which is using the application. Based upon the usage there could be constraints that can limit the benefits of a cloud architecture as some cloud features may need to be dedicated. Some of these are summarised in the following table:

Usage Security H/W Software Licenses

Applications

Database Content Network Manpower

In House VPN Shared Shared Common Shared Shared Shared Shared

Private Company

On Demand Shared Shared Common Dedicated Dedicated Shared Shared

Govt with Citizen Data

Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated

Govt Support services

Shared Shared Shared Common Dedicated Dedicated Shared Shared

CommercialisationThe commercialisation details the commercial model which would be most applicable to the application. The following are some of the more popular models:

Subscription based at a fixed cost per month/year Per transaction Resources consumed (CPU, Memory, Disk, Network)

As part of the feasibility it would be necessary to determine if the proposed commercial model would be acceptable

TechnologyTechnology would be a critical determinant of the migration as the suitable target platform would need to be capable of delivering the existing features with the minimum of disruption

Impact and Business Case In order to arrive at a business case an impact analysis would need to be done based on the existing platform and the target. The analysis would need to identify the various options and recommend the



preferred one based on cost and risk. Some of the parameters on which the impact analysis will be done would be:

Application changes and development cost Performance Security Feature degradation

Based on this and the target cloud environment the cost of migration and ownership would be determined. Various cloud calculators are available which can help determine the costs.

Based on the commercialization model the returns/savings can be worked out and this would help create the business case.

Define Roadmap and implementOnce the business case has been accepted key milestone dates need to be defined for different aspects of the implementation. These would include:

Hardware and network (for private cloud) configuration Cloud service provider selection (for public clouds) Application migration (depending upon the target model) Data migration Content migration Admin and support setup Cloud instrumentation setup


Documents

Cloud Migration