How Do The 7 Rs Of Migration Work in Nigeria

What are the 7 RS in cloud migration?

This data must be evaluated against the seven common migration strategies (7 Rs) for moving applications to the AWS Cloud. These strategies are refactor, replatform, repurchase, rehost, relocate, retain, and retire.

What is migration strategy?

A cloud migration strategy is the high-level plan an organization adopts to move existing on-premises and/or co-located application workloads and their associated data into the cloud.

Digital transformation is crucial for businesses in nearly every industry. One of the first steps in digital transformation is migrating to the cloud. This process entails moving your data, applications, and workloads from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. You must do it carefully to avoid business disruptions.

Seven methods of application migration exist to help you create an efficient and smooth process. They are known as the Seven Rs of Migration. You must understand how each works for a successful migration to the cloud. Also, note that the Seven Rs are not a sequential process. You may need to use more than one method to migrate your applications.

What is Cloud Migration?

When stuck with your application migration, you need experts to help you pick the best method for each application. Cloud Migration is a digital transformation solution enabling you to quickly and easily migrate your workloads and data to the cloud with little business disruption. You will need your application migration checklist for a smooth transition.

Here are the seven Rs of migration you can apply during your digital migration.

1. Rehosting

Digitization and digitalization are two of the most significant business trends today. Migrating to the cloud is a digital transformation strategy that can help you increase your business agility, improve your customer experience, and lower costs.

Rehosting is the first R of migration. It is the quickest and easiest way to migrate your applications to the cloud and involves a lift-and-shift method. You do not need to change your application code. But find a compatible cloud solution that can run your application.

2. Rebuilding

Legacy applications may not be able to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud. They may not run on a cloud-based platform or use the cloud’s scalability. In these cases, you may need to rebuild your applications.

Rebuilding requires you to re-architect and re-write your application code to run on a cloud platform. This type of migration is the most complex but can offer the most benefits, such as improved performance and security. You may also need to rebuild your applications to take advantage of cloud-native features like serverless computing.

3. Re-platforming

This method is slightly different from rehosting. You will make minor changes to the application code to run on a cloud platform. For example, you may need to change how your application stores data for scalability. Also, re-platforming will have to deal with any dependencies on the underlying infrastructure.

Re-platforming also addresses vulnerabilities in your application that could cause exploitation in a cloud environment. You must review and update your application security before migrating to the cloud.

4. Repurchasing

Getting a new license for proprietary software might be the best option to improve system performance, save on maintenance costs, or get new features. For instance, when a native app ties you to a specific platform, you might get a cross-platform app that works on multiple devices. Opting for SaaS solutions also falls under this category.

When you repurchase, you might also need to do some data migration. You never have to worry about building or maintaining your applications or systems. All you need is to log in and manage your business information from your dashboard.

5. Retiring

Before you migrate to the cloud, you need to consider which applications or systems are no longer necessary. This decision will help you save on cloud migration costs. Also, you need to ensure that the application data gets archived. This method requires the least effort but can significantly impact your business.

6. Retaining

Sometimes, not everything requires migration. You will realize some aspects of your application, data, or system are still working well on your old platform. This decision can help you save time and money on your cloud migration project. You can leave everything as is and continue with your business until a later date. Or, you can choose what not to touch and what to move when migrating.

7. Relocating

This method requires moving everything to the cloud. Unlike rehosting, you do not need new hardware. All your infrastructure, data, applications, and systems move to the cloud. It seems like a bulky project, but it is the most straightforward way to achieve digital transformation.

Relocating to the cloud can help you save on IT costs, improve your application performance, and scale your business quickly. But you need to ensure that your applications are cloud-ready before migrating.

Wrapping Up

Every business is different, and no one-size-fits-all solution for cloud migration. The seven Rs of migration can help you determine the best approach for your business. Rehosting is the quickest and easiest way to migrate to the cloud. But rebuilding or re-platforming can offer more significant benefits in the long run.

The first step is to assess your application portfolio and business needs. You can then decide which data, applications, or systems to migrate. Finally, research the best cloud provider that can offer the features and support you need for successful cloud migration.

What is the difference between Rehost and Replatform?

Replatforming is a happy medium between refactoring and rehosting and applies a series of changes to the application to fit the cloud better without rearchitecting the whole thing versus completely overhauling the application as you would expect from refactoring.

What is discovery in migration?

Discovery is the process of identifying and documenting your infrastructure, its related components, and the relationships and dependencies in your operating environment.