The 7 Cloud Migration Rs form a strategic framework aimed at aiding organizations in the planning, execution, and optimization of their migration initiatives. These strategies encompass Rehosting, Relocating, Replatforming, Refactoring, Repurchasing, Retiring, and Retaining.
They serve as a roadmap for determining the optimal approach to migrate applications and data from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. Over time, the 5 Rs, 6 Rs, and 7 Rs models have evolved, each iteration introducing additional options and refining the overall process.
The Evolution of Cloud Migration Strategies
Gartner’s 5 Rs Model:
The inception of the 5 Rs model dates back to the early stages of cloud computing when organizations were in the initial phases of exploring the potential advantages of transitioning to the cloud. During this period, numerous businesses were contending with the complexities of relocating legacy applications and data to a novel environment. The 5 Rs model served as a valuable framework for assessing diverse migration approaches. As time progressed, the 5 Rs model gained widespread acceptance and became an established tool for the preparation and execution of cloud migration undertakings. However, as cloud computing advanced and matured, the strategies for migrating workloads to the cloud also underwent evolution.
AWS 6 Rs Model:
The inception of the 5 Rs model dates back to the early stages of cloud computing when organizations were in the initial phases of exploring the potential advantages of transitioning to the cloud. During this period, numerous businesses were contending with the complexities of relocating legacy applications and data to a novel environment. The 5 Rs model served as a valuable framework for assessing diverse migration approaches. As time progressed, the 5 Rs model gained widespread acceptance and became an established tool for the preparation and execution of cloud migration undertakings. However, as cloud computing advanced and matured, the strategies for migrating workloads to the cloud also underwent evolution.
AWS 7 Rs Model:
As cloud computing has progressed in its evolution, and as organizations have developed more advanced strategies for migration, AWS unveiled the 7 Rs model. This most recent version of the migration framework introduces the Retain strategy, which acknowledges that not all applications and data can or should be transferred to the cloud. By incorporating the choice to keep workloads on-premises, the 7 Rs model grants organizations even more versatility in their migration strategy. This empowers businesses to harmonize the advantages of cloud computing with the necessity to retain authority over essential systems and adhere to regulatory obligations.
A Comprehensive Look at the 7 Strategies for Cloud Migration
Let’s delve into the “7 Rs” of cloud migration strategies, as outlined in the extended model presented by AWS, which builds upon the initial “5 Rs” framework introduced by Gartner. The image provided below visually represents the expanded 7 Rs model.
Rehost (“Lift and Shift”)
The rehost migration strategy entails utilizing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions in the cloud to redeploy workloads onto a cloud instance. This tactic enables businesses to shift an on-premises application and its associated elements to the cloud without alterations to the fundamental infrastructure. By maintaining the core infrastructure unchanged, this method empowers organizations to migrate all application data and processes to cloud services that align with the existing storage, networking, and computational requirements of the workload. Given that operational and configuration components of workloads remain unaltered, the rehost strategy is straightforward to execute and is particularly suitable for companies lacking internal expertise in cloud-native practices.
Relocate (“Hypervisor-Level Lift and Shift”)
The recently introduced approach involves transferring workloads while avoiding any interference with ongoing operations, rewriting of application source code, or the need for new hardware acquisition. Under this strategy, an organization can migrate a set of servers from an on-premises platform, such as Kubernetes or VMware, to a cloud-based version of the same platform. Managed Kubernetes services like Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) serve as examples. This relocation process minimizes downtime and disruptions, as clients remain smoothly connected throughout the migration procedure. As this method doesn’t demand significant alterations to workload configuration and architecture, there’s no necessity to retrain staff or invest in upgraded hardware, thus leading to reduced operational costs. Additionally, this strategy enhances cost predictability by establishing clear scalability limits.
Replatform (“Lift and Reshape”)
Through the platform strategy, an organization can transfer an application to the cloud while incorporating platform optimization to make use of cloud-native features. The fundamental source code and architecture of the application remain unaltered, ensuring the continued operation of legacy applications. Simultaneously, this approach guarantees adherence to cloud-based security and compliance standards.
The platform migration strategy enhances the adaptability, agility, and robustness of workloads, all while enabling the utilization of cloud-native capabilities like automation. This method not only reduces the time and expenses associated with migration but also enables businesses to modernize workloads without the need to rewrite the application code. It grants the flexibility to select specific components for modernization, thus enhancing application agility and optimizing return on investment. As the core architecture and functionality of the application remain intact, teams find themselves requiring minimal additional training to manage the migrated workloads effectively.
Refactor (“Re-architect”)
Frequently seen as the most intricate migration choice, refactoring entails redesigning workloads from the ground up to align with cloud-native features. Despite demanding significant investments in effort and resources, this approach is regarded as the most forward-looking migration strategy. It enables applications to harness advanced capabilities like serverless computing, autoscaling, and distributed load balancing. Refactoring aids in breaking down a monolithic application into microservices, achieving heightened availability and elevated levels of automation often challenging to attain with in-house setups. Although the expenses of reshaping applications for a service-oriented architecture during migration can be substantial, the ensuing well-structured framework typically incurs considerably lower operational costs compared to maintaining the legacy framework.
Repurchase (“Drop and Shop”)
The repurchase migration strategy entails replacing internally operated systems with externally managed services offered by cloud providers. This approach aids in retiring outdated systems and transitioning to a consumption-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription model, which links IT expenses to generated income. Since third-party vendors construct and oversee these services, the repurchase model lessens the operational burden on in-house teams responsible for infrastructure management. This option streamlines and accelerates migration, leading to reduced downtime, improved scalability, and more effective regulatory governance. This migration approach maximizes the utilization of cloud-native capabilities, primarily suitable for workloads demanding heightened application performance and user satisfaction while minimizing operational complexities.
Repurchase (“Drop and Shop”)
The strategy of repurchasing in migration involves exchanging internally operated systems for externally managed services accessible on the AWS marketplace. This approach aids in the retirement of outdated systems by transitioning to a consumption-based, Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model, which aligns IT expenses with generated revenue. Since these services are developed and overseen by third-party vendors, the repurchase model diminishes the operational burden on in-house teams responsible for infrastructure management. This option not only simplifies and accelerates the migration process but also reduces downtime, boosts scalability, and improves regulatory governance efficiency. This migration method extensively utilizes the inherent capabilities of the cloud, making it particularly suitable for workloads demanding improved application performance and user experience, all while minimizing operational complexities.
Retire
This approach is employed when discontinuing or reducing the scale of applications that have ceased to be valuable in active production. In these cases, essential business workloads running on outdated and inefficient legacy systems are phased out as the initial move towards embracing contemporary, cloud-native implementations.
Retain (“Revisit”)
This approach is applicable to applications that are not feasible to be phased out and must persist within their current framework. Organizations generally opt to preserve a workload under circumstances where it is dependent on another application that requires migration priority, or when the immediate business gains from shifting the application to the cloud are limited. In the case of vendor-provided applications, an organization might also opt for retention if the service provider has intentions to introduce a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model in the future.
How NetApp Helps with AWS Cloud Migration
NetApp provides a variety of solutions to assist companies seeking to migrate their enterprise workloads to the cloud:
- Cloud Volumes ONTAP on AWS enables enterprises to enhance performance and minimize expenses. Explore further through these AWS case studies featuring Cloud Volumes ONTAP.
- The integrated storage platform, Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, combines NetApp’s flexibility and strength with AWS’s native service, offering uncomplicated and scalable data management. Explore further through the case studies of FSx for ONTAP customers.
To exemplify the practical application of these solutions, here are a few instances showcasing how NetApp can assist users in implementing different AWS migration strategies:
- Enabling VMware Cloud compatibility, FSx for ONTAP empowers businesses to transfer workloads from their on-premises VMware setups to AWS. As an alternative, users also have the choice to implement VMware Cloud using Cloud Volumes ONTAP as the data management solution for their resources in the public cloud. Further insights can be gained from the VMware Cloud case studies featuring Cloud Volumes ONTAP.
- Enterprise teams can migrate workloads to AWS using Cloud Volumes ONTAP through a rehosting approach, also known as “lift and shift.”
- Companies seeking to re-platform (relocate and reshape) their on-premises relational databases have the option to employ personalized storage backends for Amazon Web Services (AWS) RDS.
- While restructuring applications, Cloud Volumes ONTAP and FSx for ONTAP can serve as the primary storage solution for tasks that depend on Kubernetes and other microservices frameworks. Gain deeper insights into leveraging FSx for ONTAP to bolster Kubernetes and container functionalities and explore success stories regarding Kubernetes workloads supported by Cloud Volumes ONTAP.
Furthermore, NetApp provides:
- Utilize Cloud Backup for backing up data related to ONTAP workloads.
- Employ Cloud Tiering to migrate rarely accessed data to more economical cloud object storage.
- Leverage Cloud Sync to facilitate the transfer of data between on-premises and cloud data repositories for non-ONTAP clients.
AWS Cloud Migration with NetApp
- Move – FSx for ONTAP enables the relocation of on-premises workloads to AWS VMware Cloud.
- Rehosting: Users of NetApp ONTAP have the option to seamlessly transfer their on-premises workloads to Cloud Volumes ONTAP on AWS using a ‘lift and shift’ approach.
- Restructuring – Adapting workloads into containers using orchestrators like Kubernetes or OpenShift can leverage Cloud Volumes ONTAP as their underlying storage solution.
Conclusion:
ASOFTTEK offers Cloud migration implementation and development services as part of the complex undertaking that is cloud migration. This process necessitates a thorough analysis of ongoing challenges while aligning them with necessary modifications to achieve business objectives. The selection of migration strategies is contingent upon varying complexities of workloads, associated costs, and potential disruption to existing setups. While a well-executed transition extends numerous benefits, organizations must also consider potential risks and the sustained effort required for continuous maintenance. To gain deeper insights into how ASOFTTEK’s expertise can facilitate your migration journey, explore our comprehensive manual on transitioning enterprise workloads. Additionally, you can peruse our collection of cloud migration case studies that highlight the advantages of migrating mission-critical workloads to the cloud.
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