Your 2022 AWS Cloud Migration Checklist

It’s time to migrate to the cloud. But before you do that, you need a plan. How are you going to move your most important applications? Will all your workloads easily shift to the cloud? Are you going to maintain your system on your own… or will you engage a managed services provider?

Your cloud migration checklist can serve as a baseline for what you need to do to get ready for your cloud migration. Let’s take a look.

1. Define your goals and objectives

Before you start your migration to the cloud, define your goals and objectives. What are you hoping to achieve by migrating to the cloud? Do you want to improve your scalability or reduce your costs? Do you need to make your infrastructure more accessible — or are you more concerned about security? Your goals and objectives will inform the rest of the migration process. Make sure you have measurable, quantifiable goals and objectives for each phase of AWS cloud migration.

2. Select your cloud performance KPIs

Once you’ve defined your goals and objectives, select the right metrics to measure your success. What performance indicators are most important to you? Do you want to track your costs, your uptime or your response times? Selecting the right KPIs will help you track your progress and ensure that your migration is successful. If your KPIs aren’t improving, then you know that something in the migration plan went wrong.

3. Assess your current infrastructure

To migrate to the cloud successfully, you need to first assess your current infrastructure. What applications and data do you need to migrate? How are they currently being hosted? Answering these questions will give you a better understanding of what needs to be done in order to migrate to the cloud.

Don’t forget to futureproof. The question isn’t always what you need today. It’s also what you may need tomorrow.

4. Define your migration strategy

Once you’ve assessed your current infrastructure, you can begin defining your migration strategy. There are a few different options when it comes to migrating to the cloud. You can choose to migrate everything at once, or you can migrate your applications and data gradually over time. You already know that you’re using AWS; you may need to find a provider that can support AWS management and maintenance.

5. Train your employees on the cloud

Migrating to the cloud is a big change for any organization, and it’s important that your employees are prepared for the transition. Training your employees on the basics of the cloud will help ensure that they’re able to use it effectively. And don’t forget that training is never fully “done” – as AWS evolves, continued education may be necessary.

6. Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment

Before you migrate to the cloud, it’s important to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment. This will help you identify any potential risks that could impact your migration. Create a cloud-specific disaster recovery plan, which will detail how your organization will react in the event that the worst occurs. It’s not likely that your migration will go awry, but you should be prepared if it does.

7. Prepare your applications and data

Before you can actually migrate your applications and data to the cloud, you need to prepare them. This involves ensuring that your data is compatible with the cloud platform you’re using, as well as making any necessary changes to your applications. It may be that you will need to replace certain applications or that you may need to change the products you integrate with.

8. Perform the migration

Once you’ve prepared your applications and data, you can begin migrating them to the cloud. This process can take some time, depending on the size and complexity of your infrastructure. Consider using AWS’ Migration Acceleration Program or engaging an MSP to help you complete your migration without disruption.

9. Monitor and optimize your environment

Once you’ve migrated to the cloud, it’s important to monitor and optimize your environment. This includes keeping an eye on your costs, as well as ensuring that your applications and data are running smoothly. You may need to make some changes to your environment over time, in order to keep it running optimally.

The better you plan your migration, the fewer issues are likely to crop up. Nevertheless, there’s always the chance that something could go wrong. Having a professional, expert partner at your side can help.

The Most Common Issues with AWS Cloud Migration

As you create your AWS cloud migration checklist, consider the challenges that you’re facing. What problems most frequently arise with AWS cloud migration? What issues are you likely to experience—and what are your major risk factors? Here are a few of the most common issues.

1. Incompatible data. When migrating to the cloud, you need to ensure that your data is compatible with the cloud platform you’re using. You also need to validate your data as it is transferred from system to system.
2. Lack of effective training. Even if employees have been trained on AWS, if they aren’t engaged, they may not be able to use the platform effectively. Not only must employees be properly trained, but they need to be tested before the solution is actually implemented.
3. Poor performance. If your applications and data are not running smoothly in the cloud, it could be that they weren’t configured or installed correctly. An expert can monitor and assess your environment to ensure that everything is running as it should.
4. Unsecure data. The cloud is not inherently any more dangerous than an on-premises system, but it still has to be properly secured. This often occurs during the initial setup and configuration stages. If you don’t configure your system correctly, a data breach could occur.
5. High costs. Your cloud migration can end up costing you more than you expected. Make sure to monitor your costs and optimize your environment to keep them under control. Have an MSP estimate your cloud costs beforehand to avoid sticker shock.
6. Lack of support. Finally, if you don’t have adequate support for your cloud migration, it can make the process more difficult and cause problems down the line. Make sure you have a partner that you can rely on to help you through the process.

The best way to avoid these issues is to plan your migration carefully.

Start Your 2022 AWS Cloud Migration Checklist Today

Are you ready to get the benefits of the AWS cloud? An AWS cloud migration can improve your organization’s efficiency and save your organization money—it’s just a matter of performing the migration. Contact the experts at Red River to find out more about what an AWS migration could mean for you.