On-Premise to Cloud Migration: The Complete Enterprise Roadmap

Almost 90% of businesses now run on Cloud platforms. On-Premise systems are falling behind due to their major disadvantages, such as outdated hardware, server downtime, low speed, and rising maintenance costs. 

Enterprises need to grow, respond, and position themselves according to the market. This raises the need for cloud migration. On-Premises to cloud migration offers more agility, cost-effectiveness, and fosters innovation.

In this blog, let’s delve into the process of On-Premises to Cloud migration more effectively and efficiently.

What is On-Premise to Cloud Migration?

On-Premise to Cloud Migration is a process of transferring or moving an organization’s assets, such as applications, data, and workloads, from its local servers to a cloud environment.

The cloud computing environment can be either

• Utilizing resources from a third-party cloud provider (e.g., Google Cloud)- Public cloud.
• A dedicated cloud environment for an organization - Private cloud.
• A combination of both public and private clouds, allowing smooth data movement across the clouds - a Hybrid cloud.
• Utilizing services from multiple cloud providers to prevent vendor lock-in - Multi-Cloud

Key Benefits of Migrating from On-Premise to Cloud

Sticking to legacy systems can impact your business growth. Doing a strategic move from On-Prem to Cloud migration can bring us more benefits. 

• Increased agility: Cloud environment allows faster deployment of servers, applications, and development environments. This speeds up the product development cycle and reduces time-to-market. 
• Lower maintenance cost: The cloud provider handles the hardware resources, thereby allowing manual staff to concentrate on other core activities.
• Scalability: If we need to expand, On-Premise systems require purchasing and installation of hardware, but Cloud infrastructure can scale up dynamically according to the business requirements. 
• Cost-effective: On-site servers require high capital expenditures for hardware maintenance, cooling power, and physical space. Cloud computing shifts costs from Capital Expenditure (CapEx) to Operational Expenditure (OpEx) by offering pay-as-you-go pricing. 
• More secure: Cloud providers invest heavily in security infrastructure, including data encryption, identity management, and threat detection. They also offer compliance support for industry standards like GDPR and HIPAA. 
• Easy to access: Since all the data is in the cloud, employees who work from remote locations can also easily access it.
• Improved performance:  With cloud data centers, workloads can be quickly accessed, which accelerates the speed and experience. Cloud infrastructure supports advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities that can process large amounts of data in real time.
• Disaster recovery: Traditional on-premises systems are vulnerable to a single point of failure. Natural calamities can result in significant data loss. Cloud providers offer robust disaster recovery (DR) solutions by providing continuous backup.

When and Why Enterprises Migrate from On-Premise to Cloud

Organizations move from on-premises to the cloud when they reach the decision point. The cloud infrastructure is not a technical upgrade; there are some reasons why moving to the cloud could be beneficial.

When one of the following situations is faced, organizations start thinking about moving to the cloud.

• Scalability is a concern: As businesses grow, the organization needs infrastructure to scale up quickly to meet the demanding needs. This agility is important for handling workloads.
• Enhanced security and Reliability: Suppose the business is experiencing rapid growth or fluctuating demands, the cloud infrastructure could serve them best.
• Cost restraints: When the organization is looking for ways to optimize the amount spent on its infrastructure, then migrating to the cloud will give more benefits.
• End of license: When the hardware or licensed software reaches end-of-life, it is a good time to evaluate cloud options.
• Disaster recovery: Cloud platforms offer geographically distributed data centers, automatic backups, and rapid disaster recovery, thereby minimizing downtime in case of any natural disasters.
• Need for Advanced technologies: The Organization is going to use new technologies like AI and ML, and the cloud provides a good platform for them.‍
• Meeting Compliance Requirements: Cloud providers offer services that can help businesses meet various compliance requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA.‍
• Remote-access: Cloud environment provides geographic flexibility in multiple regions. Customers can access the data remotely when it is present in the cloud.‍
• Reduce the maintenance cost: Physical hardware and software license cost does not become a big burden.‍
• Innovation: It offers access to cutting-edge technologies like AI and ML, which are costly to implement on-premises.‍
• Faster Time-to-Market: Cloud environment provides more tools that help development teams to test and deploy applications more quickly. This helps them deliver products faster.‍
• Environmental impact: Since physical hardware usage is reduced, it gives a greener IT footprint. Energy consumption also becomes low.

Types of Cloud Migration Strategies

Understanding these cloud migration strategies (“Rs”) helps us to build a cost-efficient and successful cloud migration plan. Data can be moved into a cloud platform by 6 types of cloud Migration strategies. 

1. Re-host (Lift and Shift):

Re-hosting (Lift and shift) means moving applications to the cloud without changing their architecture or code. 

• It is mostly used on legacy systems with low complexity.
• This type of cloud migration strategy is the fastest migration approach and requires less effort.
• It is chosen for its speed and simplicity.

2. Refactor / Re-architect:

Refactoring means redefining and rebuilding the codebase to take full advantage of cloud-native technologies like microservices, containers, and serverless computing or cloud auto-scaling.

• This is the most transformative approach.
• It gives maximum cloud benefits like flexibility, automation, and stability.
• This cloud data migration strategy is mostly suited for critical applications.
• The migration process takes longer time to deliver the product.

3. Repurchase:

Repurchasing (Drop and shop) means replacing an existing application with a new cloud-native Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product.

• Infrastructure is not there to be maintained, so IT operations are simplified.
• Customization is not possible.
• It makes the product dependent (vendor Lock-in) on SaaS’s features and pricing.

4. Retain (Revisit):

Retaining means keeping certain applications on-premises, either because they are not suitable for migration or migration is not a priority.

• An organization can maintain compliance and reduce risks by evaluating which systems to keep on-premises.
• It focuses on high-value assets only.
• Retaining-cloud migration strategy is suited for applications with unique needs.

5. Retire:

Retiring means identifying and decommissioning applications that no longer serve the business.

• This kind of cloud migration process helps to streamline the environment before or during migration.
• This cloud migration approach lowers costs by eliminating the license and maintenance costs for the product.
• Careful analysis is needed to identify the unused functions.

6. Replatform (Lift, Tinker, and shift):

Replatforming means making small modifications like changes to the database, application run time, or middleware layer to an application before moving it to the cloud environment. 

• It is not fully cloud-native, and it does not provide cloud benefits.
• Code changes and testing are necessary.
• This type of cloud migration strategy is faster than refactoring and rewriting.

6 Steps to Migrate Successfully from On-Premise to Cloud

A successful cloud migration requires careful planning and execution to unlock the potential benefits of the On-Premises to Cloud migration. The on-prem to cloud migration steps are:

1. Define the goals:

Access the current On-Premises infrastructure, applications, and data. Identify any dependencies or challenges that are expected in the on-premises to Cloud Migration. 

Outline the business reasons for migrating to the cloud, such as listing down what benefits will be obtained from this migration, does this migration reduce the costs, and improve scalability.

2. Design the Cloud Architecture:

‍Define the type of cloud environment, which can be a public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud. The next step is to select the most appropriate cloud migration strategy, either rehost, replatform, or refactor. Not all the data can be moved to the cloud at once. Categorize your applications and workloads based on their complexity.

Plan tools used for migration, monitoring, and management. Establish a secure and reliable connection between on-premises and the cloud.

3. Choose the right cloud provider and approach:

Several cloud providers are available in the market. Choose the one that best suits your business needs. Analyze various cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, and compare the factors like pricing, global availability, compliance, and service offerings. 

Consider using a multi-cloud or hybrid environment to avoid vendor lock-in.

4. Plan the migration: 

Create a step-by-step roadmap for migrating each data workload based on timelines, resource allocation, and risk migration strategies. Prioritize which applications need to be migrated. 

5. Execute the migration:

Start migrating a small or non-critical application to validate your cloud migration. Identify any compatibility or performance issues at this stage itself. 

Establish a performance baseline to determine if the post-migration performance is acceptable. This will reduce your risks when the actual migration is done. Now, follow a migration approach and start it in phases. Conduct testing throughout the migration process to minimize disruptions and ensure a smooth transition.

6. Optimize and Monitor:

After the migration phase, continuously monitor performance, resource utilization in the cloud, and costs in the cloud environment. Keep a track of system health and ensure proper support teams are used for troubleshooting.

Check for any vulnerabilities and update policies and procedures.

Major Challenges in On-Premise to Cloud Migration

Migration is not an easy task. There are mistakes to be taken care of, and we need to encounter several challenges during on-premises to Cloud migration. 

• Data security and compliance: Data security and regulatory compliance are major concerns in any migration. We should follow a shared responsibility model where both the cloud providers and infrastructure should secure their workloads and data.
• Downtime: Transferring large volumes of data with minimum downtime is the most difficult part. To address this, plan for migration in phases and validate its data integrity now and then.
• Skillset gaps: Skilled persons with cloud expertise can handle the migration without any errors. Plan and invest in the training and development programs for the employees regarding the necessary cloud skills. Use documentation and support resources from your cloud vendor.
• Cost management: Cloud migration can lead to unforeseen costs, which include cloud service charges, data transfer fees, and potential refactoring costs.
• Vendor lock-in: Choose a hybrid or multi-cloud approach to avoid vendor lock-in. If a public or private cloud is chosen, we need to rely on a single cloud host and provider.
• Compatibility issues: Not all the on-premise applications are cloud-ready. Some legacy systems will not adapt or require significant modifications. To overcome this, consider replacing legacy apps with SaaS alternatives.

Cloud Migration Tools & Platforms We Use

At Entrans, we use a variety of cloud migration tools and platforms to provide comprehensive cloud solutions.

DevOps tools:

• We use Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift for containerization and Orchestration.
• For Infrastructure as Code (Iac), Entrans uses tools like Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible.
• Entrans employs Jenkins, CircleCI, GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)
• Chef and Puppet are used for configuration management.
• For version control, we use Git, GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket.
• Entrans uses Prometheus, Grafana, Elastic Stack (ELK) (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), and Splunk for monitoring and logging.
• We employ HashiCorp Vault and SonarQube for security and compliance.
• AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions are utilized for serverless computing.
• For databases, we use PostgreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase, Amazon RedShift, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, and Microsoft Azure Synapse.
• Amazon S3, Azure Data Lake Storage, and Google Cloud Storage are used for storing vast amounts of raw data in their native format.
• Apache Hudi, Delta Lake, and Iceberg are used for managing large datasets on top of data lakes.

Cloud platforms:

• Entrans uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) for employing services like EC2, S3, EMR, RDS, Redshift, and Lambda. We also utilize AWS-specific DevOps tools such as AWS CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodePipeline.
• We utilize Microsoft Azure, including Azure DevOps for CI/CD, Azure Functions for serverless computing, Azure Monitor for performance monitoring, Azure SQL Database, Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks, and Azure Event Hubs.
• Entrans uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP), including Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for container orchestration, Cloud Build for CI/CD, Stackdriver for monitoring, Compute Engine, BigQuery, Dataflow, and Pub/Sub.

By using the above tools and cloud platforms, we ensure seamless cloud migrations and AI-led engineering services for real-time decision making.  

Is Cloud Migration Cost-Effective?

Yes, Cloud Migration is Cost-Effective. But it depends on the following factors. 

• How we plan, manage, and size the resources.
• It reduces cost by moving the capital expenditure (CapEx) to the operational expenses (OpEx) model.
• Using automation and monitoring tools.
• Post-migration optimization of workloads
• Selecting the right pricing models.

Cloud Migration Security: What Enterprises Need to Know

Data security is one of the most significant benefits of On-Premise to Cloud Migration. Security protocols need to be followed correctly and ensure that only authorized persons can access sensitive information. Security key aspects include:

• Shared Responsibility Model: Security is a shared responsibility between the cloud provider and customer. Cloud provider takes the responsibility of infrastructure, and the customer secures data, user access, configurations, application, and compliance.
• Identity and Access Management (IAM): Ensure that permissions are granted only to users using the least privilege access. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) and centralize their identity with Single Sign-on(SSO).
• Encryption: Encrypt all sensitive data. This includes data at rest in storage networks and data in transit over the network. 
• Auditing: Continuously monitor and log security threats in real-time. Using tools like Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) to assess the cloud environment for misconfiguration and compliance violations.
• Automate Security: Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools and automated scripts to provision and manage cloud resources.

Why Partner with Entrans for On-Premise to Cloud Migration

Migrating from on-premises to the cloud offers clear benefits: cost savings, better performance, and agility. A good migration partner like Entrans eliminates all the risks associated with On-Premises to cloud migration. 

Entrans helps businesses to reduce infrastructure costs, optimize their workflows, and enhance reliability and scalability. With 100+ certified cloud professionals and 75+ happy clients, Entrans delivers world-class cloud engineering services. Our team designs robust cloud systems that provide real-time updates, seamless integration, and enhanced performance, helping you achieve faster, more reliable cloud solutions.

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