Introduction
Lift-and-shift is the process of migrating a workload from on-premise to Cloud with little or no modification. A lift-and-shift is a common route for enterprises to move to the cloud and can be a transitionary state to a more cloud-native approach
There are also some workloads that simply can’t be refactored because they’re third-party software or it’s not a business priority to do a total rewrite. Simply shifting to the cloud is the end of the line for these workloads
Applications are expertly “lifted” from the present environment and “shifted” just as it is to new hosting premises, which means in the cloud. There are often no severe alterations to make in the data flow, application architecture, or authentication mechanisms
It allows your business to modernize its IT infrastructure for improved performance and resiliency at a fraction of the cost of other methods
Overview of Market Share
In recent days there is great growth in Cloud computing market. Companies are trying out various cloud models with right balance of flexibility and functionality
The cloud migrations hosts the application and data in an effective environment based on various factors. This is the key role of cloud migration
Many companies migrate their on-site data and application from their data center to cloud infrastructure with the benefits of redundancy, elasticity, self-service provisioning and flexible pay per use model. These factors are further expected to drive tremendous growth in the global cloud migration services market during the forecast period 2020-2027. Academic writers at Buyessayfriend continue to play a vital role in the evolving landscape of cloud migration services. Also, they are always ready to help students write a paper.
According to the report, the global cloud migration services market generated $88.46 billion in 2019 and is estimated to reach $515.83 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 24.8% from 2020 to 2027
The growth of the market is attributed to an increase in cloud computation among small and medium enterprises around the globe
What are the best features to have?
- Workloads that demand specialized hardware, say, for example, graphical cards or HPC, can be directly moved to specialized VMs in the cloud, which will provide similar capabilities
- A lift and shift allows you to migrate your on-premises identity services components such as Active Directory to the cloud along with the application
- Security and compliance management in a lift and shift cloud migration is relatively simple as you can translate the requirements to controls that should be implemented against compute, storage, and network resources
- The lift and shift approach uses the same architecture constructs even after the migration to the cloud takes place. That means there are no significant changes required in terms of the business processes associated with the application as well as monitoring and management interfaces
- It is the fastest way to shift work systems and applications on the public cloud because there isn’t a need for code tweaks or optimization right away
- Considered the most cost-effective model, the lift and shift help save migration costs as there isn’t any need for configuration or code tweaks. In the long run, these savings could give way to extra spending if workload costs are not optimized
- With minimal planning required, the lift and shift model needs the least amount of resources and strategy
- Posing the least risk, the lift and shift model is a safe option as compared to refactoring applications especially in the scenario where you don’t have code updating resources
When is the Lift-and-Shift Cloud-Migration Model the best fit?
The lift and shift approach allows on-site applications to be moved to the cloud without any significant redesigns or overhauls. You should consider using the lift and shift approach if the following apply to your business
You’re on a deadline If you’re in a time crunch, the lift and shift approach may help expedite the transition to the cloud quicker than other methods
You want lower costs A lift and shift migration can provide cost savings compared to more expensive methods such as re-platforming and refactoring. This approach is of minimal risk and is beneficial for workplace operations
You want to reduce risk Lift and shift approach is less risky and simpler process when compared to other methods like refactoring or re-platforming
When you are choosing options to migrate, you need to look at the larger picture Although the lift and shift technique can work well in many instances, you should consider all options and choose the migration type that will keep you functioning at peak performance
By choosing the right IT support firm to assist with the transition, you can mitigate cloud migration challenges to ensure optimal performance and a seamless transition
With the lift-and-shift method, on-premise applications can move to the cloud without remodeling. Since they cannot take full advantage of native-cloud features every time, this may not be the most cost-effective migration path
Bounce back can be avoided by developing a strategy for cost-allocation and defining roles to monitor how much is spent for cloud
Cloud Migration Steps: Ensuring a Smooth Transition
- First, choose which platform that you wish to migrate to
- Examine all the connections in and out of the application and its data
- If you are lifting and shifting more than one application, then you may need to consider automating multiple migrations
- You should consider containerization to replicate the existing software configurations. This will also allow you to test configurations in the cloud before moving to production
- Back up the databases from the existing system as well as supporting files. When the new database is ready, restore the backups
- Once migrated, test the application
- Check that all the current data compliance and regulatory requirements are running in the new cloud deployment. Run your normal validation tests against the newly migrated application
- Don’t be tempted to introduce new features during the migration. This can lead to many hours of additional testing to make sure you have not created new bugs
- Retire your old systems once testing is complete
Technical Stack
Google Cloud and Azure are new but still they take advantage of the experience and framework of tech giants namely Microsoft and Google
AWS is a public cloud, flexible and ready to meet the needs of both big and small applications. Azure’s strong values are perfect integrations with Microsoft 365 ecosystem and focus on enterprise market
To help you make an informed choice, we’ve prepared a table that compares the most significant features of AWS, Azure, and GCP