Assess the risk of migration
With the migration portfolio created, it's
time to assess the risk associated with
migrating. Calculating the risk of migration
depends on two factors:
Business impact. Score business impact by
assessing how important the workload is to
operations.
Complexity. Score complexity by
evaluating how complex the application is
and how well the team understands it.
A critical workload will score a higher risk
even if it's simple, whereas a more complex
but less-critical workload might score a
lower risk—and thus be a better candidate
for early migration.
Step 2: Migrate
As every application is unique, there's no
single set of steps to follow for migrating
to Azure. Some applications are ready
to migrate, some may require minor
changes in code, and still others may need
a complete redesign to make them cloud-
ready. Choosing the right migration approach
for different applications in your portfolio can
help you extract maximum value from cloud-
enabled and innovative technologies.
Upgrade workloads that remain
on-premises
A migration portfolio identifies workloads
running on Windows Server 2008 or
2008 R2 that need to stay on-premises
(Figure 2). By upgrading to the latest
edition of Windows Server, organizations
can take advantage of the benefits of
cloud- and DevOps-ready infrastructure
while still supporting current workloads.
Organizations can choose from different
upgrade options, based on technical
feasibility and requirements.
Clean installation. If you want to move to
the latest edition of Windows Server, you
first move from your existing operating
system to the latest edition of Windows
Server on new hardware or VMs, and then
move roles and services to new computers
running a newer edition of Windows Server.
Upgrade. If you plan to remain on
existing hardware, you might want to
consider upgrading to a newer operating
system, beginning with Windows Server
2012/2012 R2.
Developing a cloud migration strategy Chapter 03 10
