What is Application Migration? Complete Guide

Without accurate application migration, it is difficult to change the environment. Many companies decide to move to the new environment due to new technologies, new business goals or new development strategies. Sometimes, outdated systems can lead to new realities. This document introduces the fundamental principles of migration. It also discusses applications migration strategy, plan, and the standard tools to implement this process.

Introduction to Application Migration

Migration is the process of moving a software application from one environment into another. It could be from one environment to another, such as from an on-premise server to a cloud center or from public to private clouds. Because many companies have their own software development and network architecture, this process can be difficult. Software migration must ensure data safety and accuracy.

Sometimes, it is necessary to migrate apps between incompatible systems. This can even be done at the ideology level. In the 1990s, testing ideology was not compatible with agile, but agile principles were fundamental to software developers in the 2000s. For example, HPQC and Atlassian Jira have very different ideologies. However, it is common for companies to switch between them.

Developers in IT migration have three main goals: to save data, to make the system work in the new environment and to help the business achieve its goals.

Application Migration Strategy:

Even though they are built in the same environment, different apps can use different methods to transfer data to the cloud. This allows developers to create distant strategies for data migration. The most popular strategies for app migrating are listed below.

Re-host

This strategy involves transferring an app from an existing on-premises system to the cloud with minimal changes. This strategy can be used to achieve business goals faster and save money through re-hosting. You can perform many re-hostings manually or automatically. However, a migration that does not include modifications will not reap the full benefits of cloud computing.

Re-platform

This strategy allows you to make minor modifications to the apps before transferring them. Cloud optimization can be done without altering the app architecture in most cases. Healthcare is a common industry that uses AWS to migrate from an on-premise platform to a fully managed AWS. They switched from Java application containers to open-source equivalents during this migration. They were able to reduce their licensing costs by millions of dollars.

Re-architect

This strategy is usually the most costly, but it can also be the most profitable for the Application migration company. To make your app work better in cloud environments, this strategy will require significant changes to the app architecture. This could be a migration from monolithic monolithic architecture to server less architecture, or a restructuring of monolithic architecture.

Replace or retire

It is often the best decision to either delete or replace certain applications. Subscription-based solutions can replace costly on-premises servers if some apps are not used for a while.

Retain

It is possible to assess all your apps and make a segmentation based on which ones you use, don't use, or are not sure about. You can then focus your migration efforts on the apps that you use and need. This strategy allows you to save only critical business apps and does not require spending unnecessary time on transferring an app.

Re-purchasing

This refers to a migration to SaaS platforms that is not part of your system infrastructure. This platform is usually managed by a third party. This will help you save time as the third party will update and maintain the platform. You will have an upgrade or new version of your system with a repurchase strategy.

Application Migration Plans:

Once they have chosen the best strategy for IT migration, developers begin the process of transferring the data in a plan. There are four major stages to the application migration checklist.

1. Assessment

Assessment of the application is the first step to applying migration. This involves analyzing the situation and evaluating the goals. Then, you will need to create a plan to achieve them. You should also consider all the tools and instruments that can be used to migrate specific DevOps cases. This stage also requires you to evaluate the cost of the hardware that you will use to migrate your DevOps cases.

2. Assessment and testing of risk

You can use the migration model to testing before you start application migration to cloud. After you have transferred every part of the model to your real-life environment, you can then implement migration. This stage allows us to assess the risks and prevent any potential problems. We also document the entire process accurately. This stage allows you to make major changes to the code and application architecture in order to ensure the proper migration process.

3. Migration

Each migration has its own challenges. It is not possible to transfer all applications at once. DevOps best practices emphasize grouping apps and moving them to the new environment. This will help reduce risks and provide detailed documentation for every move.

4. Monitoring

Running an application migration is not enough. You must analyze the system after the migration is complete to verify that it works properly. DevOps is responsible for evaluating application performance, searching for disruptions, and reviewing database security. This is the final step of the migration process but it is also the most important because it evaluates the entire complex process.

Conclusion:

Organizations face a complex and difficult task when migrating their application data. They must analyze the platform's needs and goals before switching it. It is crucial to select the best and most appropriate strategy to migrate apps. The company should also consider data security, cost-of-operations, and the time required for migration.

App migration should be done from the beginning to ensure that the app runs smoothly on the new platform. It also provides data security and protection for the app. App migration best practices demonstrate that understanding the business strategy and evaluating the needs is the most important step.

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