5 Common Challenges in Azure Cloud Migration and Their Solutions

Introduction

Cloud migration is the new trend. Businesses from around the world are migrating to the Cloud for the simple fact that the Cloud delivers more than their current infrastructural set-up. From reducing huge setup costs to eliminating expenses for maintenance, the Cloud takes care of backup, disaster recovery, redundancy, secure data access, scalability, and high availability. The Cloud also offers a development hand to develop, integrate, and run applications. 

As the Cloud gains popularity and more businesses prepare to migrate, a checklist of common migration challenges has developed. In this blog, we discuss the seven most common Azure migration challenges that individuals and organizations face in migrating to the Cloud. 

Understanding the Differences

The primary challenge of migrating to the Cloud is becoming familiar with a new interface. There is a probability of misunderstanding the differences in applications which are hosted on the Cloud versus traditionally over local deployments. The Azure Cloud has some unique features, distinct from local hosting infrastructure. For example, capacity planning and resource management are conceptualized differently. In a broad explanation, while migrating to Azure the administrator needs to understand the unique features of Azure and realize there will be a partial inconvenience as the differences are identified.

Local Bandwidth Issues

While migrating to an IaaS platform like Azure, users often overlook confirming the amount of required bandwidth. This is one of the most common Azure migration challenges. Ensuring you have the appropriate bandwidth is vital, especially if a hybrid Cloud section is used with high traffic between locally hosted systems and remote Cloud elements. In this case, local bandwidth often becomes choked.

System Downtime Fear

While migrating, it should be kept in mind that there are chances of a probable downtime. Eliminating all downtime is an often-unfulfilled wish, but systematic planning can definitely help reduce downtime impact and save a lot of frustration.

Common Database Azure Migration Challenges

A number of enterprise applications depend on external databases to complete their functions. Azure allows you to migrate applications while the database is being hosted. There are chances of incompatibility with supported commands or variable types. However, if one wishes to convert the database without a loss of fidelity or function, database specialists will be required to change the applications prior to the migration to Azure.

Taking Care of Existing Dependencies

Applications seldom operate in a vacuum. While migrating an application to Azure, it is important to also account for its dependencies. Some connection configuration might become invalidated while migrating. Proper planning determines these aspects before problems arise.

Compatibility of Applications on Cloud

While it is important to make sure that databases remain compatible when running on Azure, it is also important to cover Azure migration challenges related to applications in an Azure test environment. This allows you to test the deployment to the Cloud and identify potential Azure cloud migration challenges.

Time, Cost and Security

The Azure migration challenges usually involve time, money, and security. Data migration is a slow process, as it requires a large amount of bandwidth and man-hours. Security compliances requirements vary according to industry and are a vital aspect of an IT department. Companies often prefer to keep their data on local servers, which also presents a challenge.

Conclusion

Even though migration to Azure is not a very difficult task, underestimating the process might backfire. With these Azure migration challenges in mind, you can proceed ahead to a smooth migration. Want to learn more? Below mentioned Azure courses are the perfect place to start. 

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