When planning a server migration, what do you need to take into account?

In a similar way to other major technical projects, transfer of workloads into the cloud requires a solid business case. It is a prerequisite to taking the likely benefits and costs into account prior to deciding if this is the right move.

Cloud migration counts to be a tough proposition as compared to standardized IT projects as different companies require taking a wide array of issues into consideration like what you need to do with the different servers, or the complete data centers, which are made redundant by the transfer.

It is a must for the business case to perform a calculation of the costs of migration of the cloud which is inclusive of the costs of moving the systems over, the cost of running different services in the cloud post to migration and comparing them to the prices of keeping the systems in-house.

At a latest AWS or Amazon Web Services event held at London, the company reveals how it develops the business case for those customers who are looking forward to transferring the services from traditional on-precise model where applications and data are kept in the data centers of their own, in order to have them hosted in cloud, and what companies require taking into account.

In accordance with AWS, the business case requires starting with the objectives of the business Owing to this, an organization is willing to move to cloud what it wants in order to get out of the same. This is known to be followed by discovery procedure: gaining an understanding of the existing infrastructure and other associated costs.

According to Mario Thomas, who is a senior consultant of the global advisory at AWS, you require drilling down and accomplishing a detailed business case in case you do not have the specific information regarding the state. According to the customer, gathering as well as analysis that range of data may vary from 1-2 days project to detailed ones that last for several weeks.

According to Thomas, the reason behind this is that the conduction of high-fidelity analysis, peak use of memory and CPU, looking at different servers, applications, components, and averages of different sort of things. Thus, we collect a plethora of varied data points that are beneficial in procuring a detailed business case.

According to Thomas, development of business case is a prerequisite for full-scale transfer to the clouds. It is also beneficial for different companies that are using the cloud in various ways, when companies are performing tests on the hybrid model, initiating the standalone cloud projects.

Infrastructure business case

In accordance with Thomas, infrastructure savings count to be a crucial part of the business case with regards to the cost savings. He told that it was found that one-prem, 45 percent of IT is used. This is very high actually as estates are available where utilization space is as low as five to 15 percent. This is certainly a high amount of excess capacity which is not being used and that is being paid for by different companies. Business purchase peak load, and thus you will be overbuying in order to ensure that situations never arise where you will fail to keep up with the specific amount of load.

Infrastructure costs that require being factored in are inclusive of the rates of facilities such as data centers, inclusive of the price of least time remaining left and other penalties. The cost implications of the incomplete move to the cloud require consideration. If it is not possible to move some apps to the cloud,d indicating that it is impossible to reduce the infrastructure, or shuttering of the data center cannot be performed, those apps involve a huge hole in our pocket with an eye to running on their own.

Other factors are inclusive of different costs of connectivity. Another key consideration happens to be the total number of virtual servers, physical services and different details of specifications such as RAM, cores, CPUs. Cost of storage such as NAS, SAN, direct attached storage requires to be added. It is essential to add actual server utilization, data center management costs, amortization, depreciation into the model.

Staffing business case

It is essential for a server moving company to include the people cost in the cloud business case that is second to the infrastructure costs in few cases. Companies that are considering the transfer to cloud require consideration for both contractors and staff, the price of retention, recruitment, retirement, replacement, development, training, in addition to physical space requirement. Companies also require giving a consideration to different third part costs as well as contracts that are inclusive of the early termination policies.

from siliconexion http://www.siliconexion.com/when-planning-a-server-migration-what-do-you-need-to-take-into-account/