As organizations move more of their applications and data to the cloud, it is essential to understand the various types of cloud migration strategies available. Each strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the application, workload, and environment.

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the process of transitioning existing applications and data from an on-premises or traditional IT infrastructure to the cloud. This can include moving an application to the cloud, creating a hybrid cloud environment, or re-architecting an application to leverage cloud-native features. 

As more organizations move to the cloud, understanding the various cloud migration strategies is essential for successful cloud implementations.

Different Strategies for Cloud Migration

In this blog post, we will discuss the various cloud migration strategies available, including lift and shift, rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, and platforming. We will also provide a few tips on choosing the best cloud migration strategy for your organization.

Lift and Shift Cloud Migration

Lift and shift is a cloud migration strategy that involves a minimal effort to move existing applications and data to the cloud. This type of migration is relatively straightforward and requires minimal changes to existing applications and workloads, making it a popular choice for organizations just starting out with cloud migrations.

Rehosting Cloud Migration

Rehosting, or “lift and shift with automation,” is a cloud migration strategy that involves using automation to move existing applications and data to the cloud. This type of migration is more involved than lift and shift, as it requires changes to existing applications and workloads, but is still relatively straightforward.

Refactoring Cloud Migration

Refactoring is a cloud migration strategy that involves making changes to existing applications, such as converting them to use cloud-native services, to leverage the cloud’s capabilities. This type of migration requires more effort than rehosting, as it involves changes to the existing applications and workloads, but is still relatively straightforward.

Rearchitecting Cloud Migration

Rearchitecting is a cloud migration strategy that involves making significant changes to existing applications and workloads to fully leverage the cloud’s capabilities. This type of migration is more complex and requires more effort than refactoring, as it involves rearchitecting the existing applications and workloads to take full advantage of the cloud’s features.

Replatforming Cloud Migration

Replatforming is a cloud migration strategy that involves moving existing applications and data to a cloud-native platform. This type of migration is more complex than rehosting and refactoring, as it requires creating a cloud-native platform from scratch.

Choosing the Right Cloud Migration Strategy

Choosing the right cloud migration strategy depends on your organization’s needs, goals, and objectives. Lift and shift is the simplest and least expensive of the cloud migration strategies, but it does not allow organizations to take advantage of the cloud’s capabilities. Rehosting and refactoring are good options for organizations that need to make some changes to existing applications and workloads, but still want to minimize effort. Rearchitecting is the best option for organizations that need to make significant changes to existing applications and workloads to take full advantage of the cloud’s features. Replatforming is the most complex and expensive of the cloud migration strategies but is the best option for organizations that need to create a cloud-native platform from scratch.

Conclusion

In summary, understanding the various cloud migration strategies available is essential for successful cloud implementations. Which strategy you choose depends on your organization’s needs, goals, and objectives. From lift and shift to rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, and re-platforming, there are many options available for cloud migration. Carefully assess each option to determine which strategy is right for your organization.