Issue 4

According to Gartner, by 2019, more than 30 percent of the 100 largest vendors’ new software investments will have shifted from cloud-first to cloud-only. With cloud having significant flavors, businesses moving to the cloud consider various models through which the enterprise and in-house applications can be migrated. Most common migration options include elements of re-architecture, re-platform, or lift and shift. While a lift and shift of virtual machines (VMs) appears to be the easiest route to the cloud, it is often more complex than expected. A cloud assessment is a good starting point to understand the complexities that arise during cloud migration. It has been observed that enterprises do a lift and shift of machines to the cloud to realize short term gains, while re-architecting the application for long term gains. This newsletter simplifies the lift and shift model and benefits along with the key considerations to be noted, while adopting

1Cloud Migration Simplified - 7 Forklifting hacks for CTOs

6 Research from Gartner: Three Journeys Define Migrating a Data Center to Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

12 About Microland

Cloud Migration Simplified - 7 Forklifting hacks for CTOs

Businesses planning to reap the benefits of cloud should learn to simplify the complex lift and shift migration

this model. It also explores how complexities during cloud migration may be reduced.

What is lift and shift method of migration?Lift and shift involves taking an existing solution and migrating it to the cloud infrastructure with minimal disruption. Microland has delivered instances of migration from existing application servers in a data center to similar hosts managed by an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) like Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

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Cloud Migration Simplified – 7 Forklifting hacks for CTOs is published by Microland. Editorial supplied by Microland is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is © 2017 by Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. All Gartner materials are used with Gartner’s permission. The use or publication of Gartner research does not indicate Gartner’s endorsement of Microland’s products and/or strategies. Reproduction or distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website, http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp.

FIGURE 1Lift and Shift

Source: Microland

When is lift and shift right?Enterprises consider the lift and shift model to drive agility, and move from CAPEX to OPEX for legacy applications:

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FIGURE 2Migration Strategy | Microland’s IT Strategy Survey, 2016

Source: Microland

FIGURE 3Top Migration Challenge | Microland’s IT Strategy Survey, 2016

Source: Microland

Microland’s machine conversion technology effectively handles hypervisor, OS configuration and boot process changes including OS activation, injection of cloud tools, etc. The automated machine conversion process takes approximately 30 seconds and ensures that any Windows/Linux server, coming from any source physical/virtual/cloud infrastructure, will natively boot and run transparently in the target cloud of your choice.

Migration strategy is one of the important decision criteria while moving to cloud and enterprises adopt different strategies for migration. Microland conducted an IT strategy survey for the top 20 accounts and the results validate our hypothesis. More than half the enterprises surveyed, chose lift and shift migration as an immediate priority to align to their business needs. (see Figure 2)

Lift and Shift Migration: Key ConsiderationsThough enterprises see the benefits that a simple lift and shift offers, there are other technical considerations that should also be looked at, while adopting lift and shift migration strategy. This section, looks at some of the key points that should be factored while deciding to adopt the lift and shift model along with our recommendations. (see Figure 3)

1. Application Environment

Enterprises are increasingly using lift and shift to move a large number of applications to the cloud. This involves transportation of the data and the code, recompilation, basic testing, and migration. However, the approach over-simplifies the fact that several applications may need extensive improvements to perform well in the cloud. Some of these areas include application re-design issues along with logic and systemic performance issues. Enterprise IT typically is of the opinion that these issues are likely to go away once these applications are moved to a public cloud provider. However, legacy application developed not keeping in mind a cloud connected world, are likely to perform sub-optimally in the cloud environment. Thus, creating new challenges and a significant dent in the cloud bill.

Solution: Redesigning the Applications

Enterprises looking to utilize cloud resources effectively, should consider redesigning and rebuilding the applications. In the long run, an underutilized cloud would be way more costly than the cost of refactoring an application before migration.

2. Machine Conversion Strategy

While replicating machines across regions within a certain cloud, the machines may boot natively in the target region, if there are no significant changes in infrastructure. However, while replicating machines among different infrastructures, i.e. on-premise (physical/virtual) to the cloud, the machines may work sub-optimally. This is because of infrastructure differences in hypervisors, unique cloud tools, and other variations.

Solution: Automated Machine Conversion

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3. Data Migration Strategy

With the lift and shift approach, enterprises can shift existing virtual machines to the cloud, either at the file-level or by taking a volume snapshot and delivering in increments. On the new platform, one reconstructs virtual machines from the files and snapshots, but shipping files incrementally takes time, so does moving snapshots. The conversion process doesn’t always run smoothly and some files – particularly databases and locked files – can’t convert at all. A file-based sync approach, may experience inconsistency because of a failure to work with a database or locked-file issues. Even if there are support and replication tools, they may not be enough to get sufficient functionality and resolve data differences.

Solution: Continuous Data Protection (CDP)

Microland’s migration solution replicates workloads to a target cloud location, where a fully functioning, up-to-date copy of the application can be spun up on-demand. It combines continuous block level replication of all volumes attached to all machines, as well as constant replication of the entire workload application stack – machine types, number and sizes of attached volumes, network topology, and so on. This results in fail-safe mobility of enterprise workloads to and within the cloud. The replica workload is always up-to-date, as it is not snapshot-based, but the product of continuous streaming of real-time data (CDP).

4. Unused Blocks; Data-size factoring to migration strategy

If IT teams rely on a migration tool that does block-level replication, then the amount of unused blocks will play a crucial role in determining how fast machines can be migrated. Let us assume that one has a source machine with one disk of size 1TB, but only 700GB out of 1TB has been consumed which creates a 300GB of unused space. Ideally the migration tool should not take any time to move the unused blocks and the migration time should be directly proportional to the amount of data residing on the disk. However, if the source machine is a virtual machine, the migration tool won’t send the unused blocks, as they are zeroed out. If the source machine is physical, the unused blocks may contain random data, so the migration tool cannot know if they are used or not as it sits beneath the file system. In most cases, the amount of time taken for a physical machine migration is greater than a virtual machine.

Solution1: Data Size Reduction

The amount of data that is being migrated can impact migration timelines. In some cases, enterprises may have lot of unnecessary data accumulated over a period of time. Therefore, before migrating servers that contain huge volumes of data irrelevant to the application, one should consider getting rid of the irrelevant data to reduce the migration time.

Solution 2: Automatic partition replication

Microland’s migration tool replicates complete disk with all its partitions. This means if there are additional partitions on the disk that one has selected, those will also be replicated even if one does not specify these partitions during agent installation.

5. In-transit Data Security

While it is easy to keep data on-premise or cloud, there are chances that the data packets might encounter a security breach during the transmission. Every block of data has its own security attributes and combines security at every access tier, with each layer being equally important. There are significant challenges while migrating data from an on-premise server to a cloud server. In addition, if data migration is not carried out systematically, it may lead to data being hacked by an external agent.

Solution 1: Security of data in transit

The data of the source server is transferred by a migration tool directly into the customer’s target cloud region of choice, never passing through any of the migration management servers. The data is encrypted in transit using AES 256bit. The encrypted data transmission can either travel over the public internet, or over VPN/Direct Connect/Express Route, as needed.

Solution 2: Security of data at rest

Microland’s migration tool also supports replication of encrypted data using host-based encryption software, as well as leverages target cloud volume encryption (such as EBS encryption on AWS).

6. Hybrid Integration Plan

While working with various migration exercises, it has been observed that customer’s limited knowledge about applications could pose a lot of challenges. Some of the challenges that frequently arise include IP address and hostname retention, migration of data over the internet because of the non-availability of a private secure connection, and migration of AD based applications.

Solution: Hybrid Strategy

The ideal way to migrate AD-based applications to cloud is by extending the on-premises AD Domain Services (ADDS) to cloud via VPN and promoting cloud servers to domain controllers. Instances in the cloud will have access to cloud-based domain controllers for secure, low-latency directory services and DNS. All network traffic, including AD DS communication, authentication requests and active directory replication is secured either within the private subnets or across the VPN tunnel.

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7. A strategy for cutover?

Cloud migration often requires two environments to ensure data synchronization and a zero downtime. This requires two environments to be managed simultaneously, resulting in a very high cost. During the migration and post migration phases, there has to be a cut over stage for the new environment to go live. How can the enterprise achieve this at a low cost?

Solution: Parallel Approach

Microland’s migration cutover strategy combines a parallel running approach that helps de-risk the outcome. The concept is simple and involves migrating the data to the target environment while ensuring the data in each system is still current. This typically involves dual-keying or other relevant forms of data synchronization. A parallel running migration does not necessarily require data to be moved in one shot, it can also support incremental migrations.

Microland’s migration cutover strategy combines a parallel running approach that helps de-risk the outcome.

This approach benefits enterprises in many ways. Each system can be run in parallel enabling businesses validate and sign-off on the platform, only when it meets all their requirements.

In conclusion, an organization opting for lift and shift/forklifting migration needs to understand the importance of driving various considerations listed above. The benefits to migrating to the cloud are immense and create considerable savings and business benefits. However, to get started, enterprises need to assess their IT landscape with a partner, who has extensive knowledge and experience in this area. Microland helps enterprises make the right decisions and ensure the right cloud migration strategies aligned with specific business needs are adopted.

References: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3443517

Source: Microland

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Research from Gartner:

Three Journeys Define Migrating a Data Center to Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Organizations are increasingly migrating existing applications and even entire data centers to cloud IaaS. The CIO’s approach to transformation will be the greatest driver of both cost-effectiveness and overall success.

Key Challenges

• Cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) has been most frequently used for new workloads in Mode 2 agile IT, with a strong emphasis on business agility and developer productivity. However, an increasing number of organizations are using cloud IaaS for Mode 1 reliable IT workloads, driven primarily by the desire for cost reduction and greater efficiency.

• When considering the migration of existing workloads to cloud IaaS, CIOs must decide on one of three journeys. They may simply “lift-and-shift” workloads with as little organizational impact as possible; they may pursue cloud-enabled virtual automation, and use the opportunity to drive standardization and greater automation but not fundamentally transform the IT organization; or they may perform a DevOps transformation, driving toward greater agility and a DevOps orientation.

• Organizations often do not have the skill set to conduct a cost-effective migration to cloud IaaS, and often lack the expertise to safely and efficiently build and run applications on the cloud IaaS platform.

Recommendations

For CIOs:

• Plan and execute a bimodal cloud IaaS strategy. Mode 1 steady-state workloads require a different approach than Mode 2 agile digital business workloads.

• Consider the degree of transformation desired. The cost and effort of the migration itself, the risks and challenges, the ongoing cost of operations in the cloud IaaS environment, and the resulting overall benefits to the business, will depend upon the approach chosen.

• Work with an experienced and expert third party that can provide professional services for feasibility studies and migration, as well as managed services for the transition period, so that you can ensure best-practice operations from the start.

Strategic Planning Assumptions

Through 2017, more than 80% of CIOs will be pressured by business management to evaluate migrating their data center to cloud IaaS.

Through 2017, more than 50% of organizations that evaluate large-scale data center migrations to cloud IaaS will decide to remain with their existing infrastructure.

Introduction

Many organizations have placed new applications on cloud IaaS and may have moved a few existing applications to cloud IaaS, and furthermore, many technology startups run their entire operations in cloud IaaS. However, through 2012, it was relatively rare for nontechnology businesses to migrate all (or substantially all) of their data center infrastructure onto cloud IaaS. Initial market momentum for migrations began in 2013. Relatively few organizations will complete such migrations by the end of 2015, but more organizations have begun multiyear migration projects. Now, in late 2015, even conservative late-adopter IT organizations who haven’t previously adopted any cloud IaaS are nevertheless routinely evaluating such migrations.

Migrations are most common in the midmarket and midsize enterprise (up to $3 billion in revenue and 1,000 servers), but are also increasingly of interest to large enterprises. While the earlier phases of cloud IaaS adoption have been driven by the need for business agility, this new phase of mainstream workload migration is driven by the desire for lower costs and greater efficiency.

Most CIOs contemplating a cloud IaaS migration will time this migration to coincide with some triggering event, such as a data center move, hardware refresh, major

software license renegotiation, server consolidation, integration of a merger or acquisition, or end of an outsourcing contract. In many cases, migrations will begin with capital expenditure (capex) avoidance – new Mode 1 workloads are placed on cloud IaaS to avoid having to buy additional servers, with a plan to migrate existing workloads as hardware is depreciated and retired.

Efficiency-driven workload migration demands a different mindset and approach than agility-driven cloud adoption. The greatest benefits are derived from cloud-enabled organizational transformation, yet such transformations are highly disruptive and difficult. Moving to cloud IaaS without sufficient transformation may fail to yield the hoped-for benefits, and may actually result in higher costs.

Most best practices and case studies for cloud IaaS are focused upon agility-driven use cases. This research, by contrast, is focused upon the needs of CIOs whose primary goal is cost-efficiency, with benefits such as improved operational quality and greater agility as secondary. It is specifically focused on the use of service providers, rather than building a private cloud. Our advice here is directed at those who are considering migrating most or their entire data center infrastructure into cloud IaaS over time, rather than those who just want to migrate a few applications.

Note that not all cloud IaaS providers are at similar levels of maturity, or breadth and depth of features. For Mode 1 migrations, providers should be chosen strategically.

This research presents three journeys to consider when framing decisions about migrating existing data centers to cloud IaaS:

1 A lift-and-shift of workloads with minimal change.

2 Cloud-enabled virtual automation that takes advantage of cloud capabilities to drive greater efficiency and agility.

3 A DevOps transformation that radically reshapes the IT organization for agility.

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Regardless of whether you are considering a migration now, or building a long-term strategic plan for your data center – and regardless of your degree of inclination toward actually executing such a migration in the future – the three journeys can be used as a framing device for thinking about different end states for the use of cloud IaaS.

Analysis

Adopt a Bimodal Cloud IaaS StrategyMany organizations have adopted cloud IaaS for agility, especially for digital business workloads. Such workloads fit Mode 2 of Gartner’s bimodal IT model, with an emphasis on flexibility and speed, managing uncertainty, and the ability to pilot, iterate, and sometimes fail. In this context, cloud IaaS adoption has typically been driven by developers and paid for using a line-of-business budget, often using a DevOps approach to operations. In such organizations, as adoption grows, a cloud center of excellence (COE) – sometimes alternatively called a cloud competency center – led by an enterprise architect (who is often given a “cloud architect” title), is typically created to promote organizationwide adoption as well as provide centralized governance and vendor management.

However, when organizations contemplate moving existing data center workloads into cloud IaaS, the workloads being considered for such migrations are usually squarely grounded in Mode 1 of Gartner’s bimodal IT model – predictable, largely static, reliable and secure, with a strong emphasis on cost-efficiency. They are normally paid for out of the IT operations budget and managed by the IT operations team. In some cases, the organization’s data center might already be fully or partially outsourced, thus complicating the available options for migration and the migration process itself.

Successful planning and execution of a cloud IaaS migration for Mode 1 workloads demand recognizing that the needs of Mode 1 and Mode 2 are different. An approach that has worked very successfully for Mode 2 may not be best for Mode 1. These differences can result in significantly different processes, tools

and cost profiles. In particular, it is critical to note that cloud IaaS is not always cheaper than the status quo for Mode 1 applications, although it may bring other benefits beyond cost reduction.

Resist the temptation to treat your existing Mode 2 adoption as something that will be brought into conformance with the Mode 1 approach as you migrate more infrastructure to cloud IaaS. If anything, your Mode 1 migration should be inspired by your Mode 2 successes, and draw from the best practices discovered during Mode 2 adoption. If you have an existing cloud COE, it should be instrumental in helping plan and execute the Mode 1 migration as well. The COE should, if possible, extend its capabilities to become a central cloud service brokerage organization for both Mode 1 and Mode 2 needs. However, keep in mind that best practices, processes and tools that were developed to govern Mode 2 adoption may not be optimal for Mode 1 workloads.

While Mode 2 adoption of cloud IaaS is often “greenfield,” Mode 1 adoption is almost always “brownfield.” You must take into account your existing investments, vendors, technologies, processes, tools and skills when considering the right strategy. A move to cloud IaaS is also likely to involve a fundamental shift in the way a substantial percentage of your IT spending flows and is accounted for, which may have an impact on your organization’s bottom line.

Note that you should not allow your existing technology investments to determine your future in cloud IaaS, especially if you favor a transformative approach. By necessity, your existing environment will influence your migration decisions, but this is an excellent time to consider alternative approaches. Also keep in mind that most migrations take two years or more (and may be preceded by up to a year of planning); and many CIOs with large existing data center investments anticipate that a full migration will take five years or more, as they depreciate existing investments. Many forward-thinking CIOs believe that their on-premises technology choices will increasingly be influenced by their cloud IaaS choices, rather than the other way around.

Determine Your Approach to TransformationThere are three basic approaches to migrating existing data centers to cloud IaaS, leading to three different types of journeys:

• Lift-and-shift. In this approach, workloads are moved to cloud IaaS in as unchanged a manner as possible. IT processes change only to the extent necessary. Where possible, IT operations management tools from the existing data center are deployed into the cloud IaaS environment. The cloud IaaS platform is treated like “rented virtualization,” and little or no use is made of cloud-native features.

• Cloud-enabled virtual automation. In this approach, the migration process is used as an opportunity to drive greater standardization, automation and a “cleanup” of existing operations. IT processes are modified to take advantage of automation and some cloud-native capabilities, such as configuration management or database as a service.

• DevOps transformation. In this approach, a cloud-native, agile approach is used as much as possible. IT processes (and sometimes business processes) are transformed. Cloud-native, DevOps-oriented tools are used pervasively throughout the entire application life cycle. Automation and “infrastructure as code” is strongly emphasized. The long-term goal is a renovated core that supports Mode 2 as well as Mode 1 needs.

We will examine each of these approaches in turn.

Lift-and-Shift

A lift-and-shift migration approach is typically driven by one or more of the following factors:

• The desire to move the IT financial model from capex to operating expenditure (opex).

• The belief that cloud IaaS is cheaper than a traditional data center.

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• A limited migration budget that is only sufficient to cover workload movement.

• The desire to minimize disruption or distractions from day-to-day IT work.

• A compressed time frame that does not allow a more thoughtful, more gradual, or more transformative approach.

• The belief that it’s best to get onto the cloud IaaS platform as quickly as possible, with cleanup and other improvements to follow later.

• The desire to avoid any form of “lock-in” and simply treat the cloud IaaS platform as a way to rent virtual machines (VMs).

It is critical to note that while this kind of migration is technically straightforward, it creates relatively limited value. It essentially substitutes renting hardware for buying hardware, but brings few operational benefits. Furthermore, it often does not deliver immediate cost reductions and can actually prove more expensive.

This kind of migration is sometimes crisis-driven. A common scenario is the spinoff of a subsidiary, requiring the subsidiary’s infrastructure to be rapidly separated from the parent company’s infrastructure. It is also sometimes used to deal with a budget crisis, where urgent infrastructure needs cannot be met because the organization cannot buy or lease the equipment due to its financial position. In these situations, success is often considered to be attained by successfully navigating the crisis, and cloud IaaS can be a valid and useful solution.

A pure lift-and-shift migration is not an unreasonable place to start, although many organizations find it easier and more beneficial to clean up and cloud-enable workloads during the migration process rather than after the fact. However, a pure lift-and-shift migration is a poor place to end.

Most IT operations management tools designed for on-premises use often are of limited suitability in managing cloud IaaS, even when they theoretically have specific

features designed for cloud management. Some tools may approach technical problems in inefficient, unsecure, or overly costly ways; for instance, on-premises enterprise backup tools are not usually well-suited to backing up storage in cloud IaaS.

Consequently, even if a CIO decides to pursue an approach that involves minimal changes to existing IT processes, it is important for the organization to reconsider its management tools. It is preferable to do so prior to the migration itself, since this avoids the headaches of licensing and deploying the existing tools in the cloud, but it can be done after the fact, if need be.

Some CIOs favor a lift-and-shift approach because they mistakenly believe that it is best to treat cloud IaaS providers like commodities. They want to avoid any form of vendor lock-in and would prefer to treat a provider as they do interchangeable x86 server vendors, and thus avoid using all of the value-added capabilities of these platforms. Unfortunately, doing so substantially reduces the value that a cloud IaaS provider can deliver and significantly lowers the likelihood of cost savings. High-quality cloud IaaS providers are highly differentiated, and the greatest benefits come from taking advantage of the breadth and depth of the capabilities that are integrated into their platforms.

Cloud-Enabled Virtual Automation

Broadly, Mode 1 workloads often benefit more from virtual automation than they benefit from a self-service cloud approach. In virtual automation, commonly performed IT operations tasks (such as the provisioning of new VMs with particular application stacks) are automated, reducing labor time (and thus cost), improving deployment times, and potentially improving the consistency and quality of operations.

While virtual automation can be used to enhance on-premises virtualized data centers, it is also a valid approach to using cloud IaaS. In this approach, the cloud IaaS platform’s native capabilities are often combined with additional management tooling, such as a cloud management platform (CMP), to enable

IT operations process automation. When possible, the provider’s platform as a service (PaaS) capabilities may be used as well. A service catalog or integration with service management software may be used to facilitate self-service or a “lab management” service. DevOps tools (especially those for configuration management) may also be used to facilitate automating routine operations tasks, without the organization moving more broadly toward a DevOps philosophy.

In this approach, workloads are often “sanitized” in the process of moving them to the cloud. The application portfolio is reviewed. Standardized application stacks are created, and then instantiated as templates, or otherwise have their provisioning automated. Infrastructure is “rightsized” based on actual consumption. Minor modifications are made to application or infrastructure architecture in order to ensure that the workloads will be resilient, performant, secure and cost-efficient in the cloud environment.

Many customers who take this approach begin with relatively limited adoption of the cloud IaaS provider’s native capabilities for management and PaaS-layer services, but expand the use of those features over time – adopting, for instance, monitoring, autoscaling and database as a service.

Organizations that adopt this approach to migration typically have some or all of the following characteristics:

• The desire to avoid running a data center.

• The desire for more efficient IT infrastructure.

• The desire to take advantage of technology innovations more quickly.

• Sufficient time and budget to execute a clean, methodical best-practice migration.

• The desire to drive greater automation, without the disruption of transformation.

• Application stacks that can be standardized, enabling greater automation and possibly developer self-service via templates or blueprints.

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• The willingness to adopt native cloud IaaS capabilities.

Most successful Mode 1 cloud IaaS migrations will be done using this approach, because it can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame (one to three years), delivers immediate benefits and does not require disruptive transformation.

DevOps Transformation

The greatest benefits of cloud IaaS are derived from a transformational approach, but transformation is also difficult, disruptive and complex. Customers pursuing a cloud-enabled DevOps-oriented transformational journey typically have all of the following characteristics:

• They have a need for business agility and want to bring agility to all of IT, not just Mode 2 projects.

• They view technology as a critical competitive differentiator and want to take advantage of innovations as quickly as possible.

• They have board-level support to pursue a long-term, multiyear journey to full transformation.

• They have the budget available to fund this effort over a multiyear period, including the ability to handle budget overruns.

• They are interested in adopting DevOps across the IT organization.

• They have the workforce flexibility to radically alter the skill set possessed by IT personnel.

Transformational journeys typically occur in stages. A DevOps philosophy guides the transformation. The initial migration effort typically looks quite similar to a cloud-enabled virtual automation approach, except that applications are often modernized to be cloud-native where feasible (in terms of effort and cost). However, the tools are different from those used for virtual automation; they are DevOps-oriented and may be cloud-native. Emphasis is placed not just on

changing IT operations processes, but also changing the application life cycle, including potential alterations to the associated toolchain in order to enable capabilities such as continuous integration and continuous deployment.

Transformations impact the IT operations organization most heavily. Employees who are expert with data center hardware and software (and who may have built their careers on top of vendor-specific expertise and certifications) may find that these skills have limited relevance. In particular, more junior employees who primarily execute basic repetitive tasks – technicians and administrators, not engineers – are likely to find that these tasks are eliminated by automation. Even those who can write automation scripts may not have the training and experience to write maintainable code; DevOps demands good software engineering skills. Furthermore, there may be a personality mismatch between Mode 1 and Mode 2 demands, although some people are adaptable.

Transformation requires a plan to deal with the within-company job movement, voluntary attrition and involuntary separation for those employees who do not successfully make the transition. It also requires a plan to hire – or otherwise acquire – the necessary new skills, which may be challenging in some labor markets.

In most cases, organizations reduce the overall IT workforce, but even when a significant percentage of the traditional IT operations organization is eliminated, head count may not be heavily reduced because many IT administrators are instead replaced by DevOps-oriented engineers. However, cost-efficiencies may still be gained because more senior IT administrators are replaced by less-expensive junior developers (who are then trained in operations principles), and more tasks are performed via automation, therefore freeing IT infrastructure architects and engineers to do more value-added work.

It is often very difficult to embark on a successful transformational journey without first having had significant success with Mode 2 projects in cloud IaaS. Every organization

is different, and experimentation is often necessary to determine what processes, organizational structure, and tools will work best in this particular environment. Even with external assistance, the organization still needs to build in-house expertise and leadership to help guide a transformation in a way that fits the organization’s culture and business.

Get Experienced Outside HelpCloud IaaS platforms are often complex. Most organizations have difficulty successfully executing migrations without external help. Managed and professional services providers (sometimes called cloud service brokerages) should be considered in the context of all three journeys.

Professional services can help to evaluate your readiness for a migration, assist you in deciding which journey to embark on and determine what the implications of that journey will be. Professional services can assess the impact on your application portfolio and assist you in choosing appropriate cloud IaaS providers. Professional services can be helpful in more accurately estimating cloud IaaS costs – inexpert organizations are often unaware of all the cost components and may also be unaware of where those opportunities to be more efficient lie. Professional services are also useful for architecture guidance and validating the architecture of your solution to be deployed on cloud IaaS, although some cloud providers may provide this directly as part of sales engineering or technical support. Professional services can be highly valuable for migration planning and execution. Some companies also use consultants to train personnel on the cloud IaaS platform.

The role of professional services (consultants) in each of the migration journeys is as follows:

• Lift-and-shift. Consultants help to assemble a project plan, create an inventory of workloads and application dependencies, and determine which workloads are migrated – and in what order. They may assist with project

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management. They will often perform the migration itself, typically using a combination of commercial cloud migration software (such as Racemi) as well as their own proprietary tools.

• Cloud-enabled virtual automation. In addition to the tasks performed by consultants in a lift-and-shift, the consultants help create the standardized application stacks and build templates, and in some cases may have pre-existing templates reflecting deployment best practices for those stacks. They may also implement the CMP, service catalog, or integration with service management. They may also implement DevOps tools and script other automation.

• DevOps transformation. On such a journey, consultants provide not just technical expertise, but often management consulting as well, helping to guide the whole business toward transformation. Consultants help to assemble a project plan and provide guidance and project management over a multiyear period. They help to create an application inventory, determine what to do with each application (move it unchanged, move it with some cloud-native infrastructure architecture changes, or modify the application to take advantage of cloud-native capabilities), and help to make the necessary modifications. They help create standardized application stacks and templates. They implement DevOps tools and automation, and possibly other governance and management, such as a service catalog. They help developers adopt agile, cloud-native, and DevOps processes. They may perform more general system integration work related to the migration and transformation. They perform the migration itself.

Managed services can potentially be exceptionally helpful during the transition to cloud IaaS, especially if the organization is trying to transform its approach to operations, and needs to learn new best practices, processes, and tools for cloud-native operations.

The role of managed services providers (MSPs) in each of the migration journeys is as follows:

• Lift-and-shift. The MSP essentially acts like a traditional data center outsourcing (DCO) provider, except the infrastructure is cloud IaaS rather than a traditional data center. The MSP may use very few cloud-native capabilities or DevOps tools, and may continue to perform many tasks manually rather than automating them. However, there may be relatively little push toward standardization, and the contract may be highly customized.

• Cloud-enabled virtual automation. The managed services are standardized and performed via human-guided automation where possible. There is often a “menu” of well-defined managed services with specific prices. The MSP typically takes responsibility for building and maintaining the virtual automation and governance capabilities, such as templates, scripts, the CMP and the service catalog. The MSP may also perform additional DCO tasks.

• DevOps transformation. The key skill set outsourced to the MSP is primarily DevOps engineering, rather than IT operations administration. The MSP performs tasks via automation whenever possible, and they often have primary responsibility for building and maintaining DevOps automation. The MSP may also provide the CMP, service catalog, and other management and governance tools. It may also perform additional DCO tasks, including custom, nonautomatable tasks. The MSP serves as the exemplar of how to run a DevOps-oriented IT organization.

Lack of essential skills is one of the biggest barriers to cloud IaaS adoption, and the use of consultants and MSPs is one of the most efficient ways to address that lack of skills. Most CIOs will want to reskill their IT organization over time, though, as in many organizations, the use of MSPs may be limited to just one to three years, while the IT organization is in transition to a new mode of operation. CIOs who favor outsourcing, however, may prefer to use an MSP indefinitely.

The managed and professional services ecosystems of cloud IaaS providers vary tremendously. Amazon Web Services has the largest and most mature ecosystem. Microsoft Azure has a growing ecosystem as well. Some cloud IaaS providers, such as CenturyLink and Virtustream, perform their own managed and professional services, rather than depending on partners. You will need to decide whether you prefer to have a single provider who offers the migration services, ongoing managed services and cloud IaaS platform itself, or you want to choose a cloud IaaS provider and third-party partners separately. This will also have significant impact on your contractual terms, since most single-provider solutions will typically require multiyear contracts, whereas cloud IaaS (by itself) is normally purchased on demand and third-party managed services are typically on more flexible contract terms.

Source: Gartner Research, G00292600, Lydia Leong, 30 October 2015

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About Microland

Microland is India’s first hybrid IT services provider and a trusted partner to enterprises in their IT-as-a-Service journey. Incorporated in 1989 and headquartered in Bangalore, India, Microland has 3500+ specialists across offices in Europe, Middle East, North America, Australia and India.

Microland enables global enterprises to become more agile and innovative through a comprehensive portfolio of services that addresses hybrid IT transformation, cloud adoption, workspace transformation, end-to-end IT Infrastructure Management and cross-technology application management.

Microland’s proprietary platform SmartCenterSM and other frameworks, tools and methodologies leverage analytics and automation to enable enterprises achieve reduced costs, improved predictability, enhanced user experience and increased agility.

Microland has well-established relationships with technology leaders such as AWS, Citrix, Microsoft and VMware and has leveraged its experience to build a number of solution accelerators to enable an enterprise’s digital journey.

Microland has been rated amongst the Top 10 Infrastructure Management Providers by Global Services, Microsoft’s Best Indian Infrastructure Partner for the 8th consecutive year, Major Contender in, Private Cloud, IT Infrastructure Services & Emerging Player in Cloud Infrastructure Services by Everest Group, one of the leading service providers in Remote Network & Voice Infrastructure Management Services by Gartner, ranked amongst the Top 20 Global Cloud Computing Companies by CIO Review and the Top 20 Remote Infrastructure Management Vendors by the Black Book of Outsourcing.

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