{"id":11196,"date":"2019-05-13T09:43:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T09:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/?p=11196"},"modified":"2019-07-11T12:48:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T12:48:16","slug":"azure-migrate-where-should-i-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/technetuk\/2019\/05\/13\/azure-migrate-where-should-i-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Azure Migrate \u2013 Where Should I Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bit<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking about making a move to Azure, it\u2019s important to first understand how to approach it. With the correct approach and sufficient planning, a migration can be straight forward, efficient and void of surprises.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the place to start is the\u00a0Microsoft Cloud Operating Model<\/a>. This is a detailed white paper that allows you to create a strategy for migration. Covering cloud readiness, people strategy and technical analysis, it\u2019s a comprehensive document. Once you have an understanding of your business strategy, read \u201cWhy am I moving to Azure?\u201d and your people strategy, read \u201cWho is moving us to Azure?\u201d you can progress to the technical phase.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of initial moves to Azure are often re-host migrations, or \u201clift and shift\u201d, as these are most common, I will reference this scenario as an example. There are four stages:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The first step of the technical phase is to Assess. This means understanding what it is that you are moving and what the best process will be. This includes everything from involving the business stake holders, to cost calculation to application evaluation. This analysis should give you an output that not only details where the application could go but more importantly, where it can go.<\/p>\n

Microsoft offer several tools to help with some of this. First up is\u00a0Azure TCO<\/a>. This allows you to estimate the cost savings you could make by migrating to Azure. Next is\u00a0Azure Migrate<\/a>, this is an assessment tool that is FREE and allows you to discover, document and assess your workloads and their dependencies. You can then create cost estimates for running them in Azure.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Now that you have your environment discovered, grouped and sized correctly, you can begin to migrate your workloads. Microsoft provide a service for this also,\u00a0Azure Site Recovery<\/a>\u00a0(ASR). This service allows you to replicate your servers from your on-premises environment. For most services it is application aware, meaning it can replicate services like SQL server without any data loss. Before you implement ASR it is important to use your data from Azure Migrate to capacity plan for your replication requirements. Taking this step allows for greater speed and efficiency during replication and migration of workloads.<\/p>\n

Microsoft also provide a script repository for migrating large numbers of VMs at once. These can be from VMware, AWS, GCP or physical servers. There are some limitations, most restrictive is lack of support for Managed Disks, but you can always flip these manually later. The scripts and guide can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How long it takes to migrate your workloads is determined by your business requirements. However, once complete, it is vital that you revisit these workloads for optimisation.\u00a0Azure Advisor<\/a>\u00a0can provide recommendations but the key areas to focus on are:<\/p>\n