Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/584904
26 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL www.datacenterjournal.com www.datacenterjournal.com 26 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL Step 3 - Launch a strategy to minimize business impacts and maximize KPIs Step 4 - Execute on the strategy MigraTion aPProaches vary DePenDing on The TyPe oF cLouD you choose For organizations migrating to a hyperscale cloud pro- vider, your migration approach, scope and execution will differ from those of an enterprise cloud. For a hyperscale environ- ment, typically the web application stack transition and testing are done independently of the current on-premise environment. Oentimes, the cloud implementation is a fresh build that employs containers and/or heavy automation capabilities from tools such as Puppet and Chef. Although it sounds like a nice clean step, automation and integration may be a new skill for your team and may also require learning a new scope of testing and development. Expect a traditional IT staff to struggle here. A developer-centric staff may be more adept at this change. When moving to an enterprise-class private-cloud pro- vider, seeding is incremental more oen than not. Businesses oen choose to move their virtual machines (VMs) in groups according to their specific networking characteristics. Before the cloud migration, IT teams should conduct a comprehensive evaluation of on-premise virtual machines and networking to fully understand its architecture, dependencies, VM sizing and storage requirements. Once that research is complete, the team can contract with an enterprise private-cloud provider like Fac- tion. And don't be bashful; demand delivery of an environment that exceeds the minimum specifications so that you will have consistent, predictable costs. Additionally, request that your cloud-service provider use data-protection tools such as Veeam or Unitends to facilitate data migration and data consistency be- tween the on-premise environment and the cloud environment. An IT staff focused on infrastructure management should un- derstand and be good with this approach; a developer-oriented staff may struggle with tool selection and need help. Once the cloud environments are fully populated and up, flip the switch, migrate DNS and off you go. When you're executing a cloud migration to a third-party cloud provider, the differences in cloud-provider types and their impacts on your environment can be overwhelming. But finding the right balance between reducing risks and maximizing value and correctly developing, testing and evaluating the conditions of the cloud environment can tilt the equation toward success. If you can confidently assess the above considerations, you should be able to securely move to any third-party cloud. n about the author: As Director of Solutions Engineering for Faction, Richard Vincent is responsible for architecting robust IaaS solutions for channel partners and enterprises, enabling them to conduct business with compelling differentiation. Before joining Faction, Richard served as a Storage Solution Executive at Dell, performed as an independent cloud consultant, and held the position of Director, Data Center Computing for Global Technology Resources, Inc. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, College of Business and is fluent in the Japanese language.