Infrastructure Modernization
Moving to the cloud means more than simply relocating servers from on-premises to cloud data centers, as in the traditional “Lift and Shift”.
On-premises systems should be rearchitected and reengineered to leverage cloud computing capabilities to create highly available, cost-efficient, serverless, self-healing architectures wherever possible.
What are your Goals for Rearchitecting in a Cloud Computing Environment?
The fundamental benefit of rearchitecting infrastructure in the cloud is the shared responsibility model. Under this model the cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Cloud (GCP), and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), are responsible for the operation of the underlying cloud infrastructure, and clients are responsible for the workloads deployed on the infrastructure.
Cloud services enable the implementation of architectures that support the improvement of the following:
● Availability
Cloud services are global, highly available systems that afford the ability to design fault tolerant architectures that can prevent loss of service and downtime
● Scalability / Computational Efficiency
The ability to add and remove resources in the set of available resources as demand increases and decreases
● Cost Efficiency
The ability to operate infrastructure at the lowest price point while still delivering value
● Operational Efficiency
The ability to manage infrastructure and run workloads in an efficient repeatable manner using defined, and often automated processes
● Security
Cloud platforms are secure by default and offer many services that enable the implementation of the principle of least privilege (minimum viable access).
What are the different models for Developing a Cloud Environment?
Traditional “Lift and Shift”
On-premises systems are simply migrated to the cloud without significant changes and maintain existing traditional operating models.
PRO: This model can provide the fastest migration, as there are several tools available that can deploy on-premises virtual machine images (VDI) if the client is using virtual machines on-premises.
CON: This model leverages the least of the cloud computing services available to support scalability, availability, and cost savings.
ReImplementation
On-premises systems reimplemented with minimal change to the architecture, but new systems are configured to take advantage cloud computing technologies. New servers are built in a traditional manner using cloud services for auto-scaling, multi-Availability Zone (High Availability) deployment, Infrastructure as code (IaC), and configuration management.
PRO: This model can improve availability, and operations without significant rearchitecting/reengineering.
CON: Higher levels of automation and optimization can be achieved by rearchitecting.
ReArchitecting
On premise systems are rearchitected and reengineered to leverage maximum cloud computing capabilities to create highly available, cost efficient, serverless self-healing architectures wherever possible. This is often referred to as Infrastructure Modernization.
PRO: This model takes advantage of scalable resources to improve operational efficiency, availability, security, and cost optimization.
CON: This is a drastic change for organizations, and requires a team that is willing to invest the time to redesign systems in this new paradigm.
Architectures that do not leverage the breadth of cloud services might not be making the most of cloud computing, and might be missing an opportunity to increase efficiency, availability, and decrease cost.