Guide to Preparing Your Database for Cloud Migration

Guide to Preparing Your Database for Cloud Migration

Transferring a database to the cloud may be a difficult and time-consuming process. Many database migrations run into issues as a result of assumptions that were made or questions that were never addressed regarding the database at the start of the method.

Cloud-based database hosting and management is considerably different from traditional approaches because of the adoption of shared responsibility models by AWS and Azure. Specifically, this difference lies within the undeniable fact that AWS and Azure have adopted these models. It demands specialist techniques, technologies, and skills. Some companies don’t know about this until the center of or after the migration process, which might result in problems with compatibility or performance similarly to costs that weren’t anticipated.

Here are Some Questions to Ask before Cloud Migration:

1. What Does Your Database Look Like?

First things first: determine the dimensions and functionality of your existing database, furthermore as how it interacts with applications already in use.

The amount of memory on the present server and also the number of CPU cores it possesses are two important statistics that require being determined. It’s also helpful to induce a concept of the entire number of instances that may be impacted still because of the average number of databases that will be utilized by each instance.

Find out the everyday number of users who are connected to the database at any given moment, in addition, because the typical and maximum amounts of transaction logs that are generated in an hour. The transition to a cloud-based environment may have control over the business logic that’s presently utilized for the generation, storage, and management of information. As a result of this possibility, you may have to give some consideration to the present business logic.

It is imperative that any compliance, regulatory, or auditing requirements be taken into consideration. It’s vital to administer some thought to how they’ll be maintained both during and after the transfer.

2. What Quite an Experience Does One Have Working with Databases?

Have a conversation with the individuals who are guilty of managing the database, and inquire about the roles that they complete a day after day. It’s possible that smaller companies do not have a selected individual or team in situ to fulfill this function; if that is the case, then it’s even more crucial to determine who is chargeable for what. If this can be not done, it’s only too simple for important responsibilities to be forgotten when the migration takes place.

Even larger companies that have an obsessive database administration department won’t have any members of their staff that have prior expertise with migrations. In the event that this can be the case, locate any gaps in your knowledge and consider how you would possibly fill them.

Database managers are likely visiting require a brand new set of abilities so as to achieve success when working within the cloud migration. The elemental ideas behind management haven’t changed much throughout the years, but the administration method has evolved significantly. Providing members of the team with opportunities to enhance their skills should be a top priority, and support from an experienced third party may be of enormous value.

3. How Does One Maintain Your Database?

If your database is in physiological condition, with indexes that are rebuilt periodically and statistics that are maintained up to now, then things are looking bright for a cloud migration that burst without a hitch. However, organizations that don’t have dedicated support for database administration are more likely to possess some maintenance concerns that require being resolved before moving further.

Additional considerations to require into consideration include the length of your time that transaction logs and backups are kept, also because of the frequency with which backups are performed, and also the location within which they’re stored. Naturally, there has to be a contingency plan able to enter in case of an emergency. However, refrain from making any assumptions regarding the extent of the backups. It’s a really good idea to try some tests on disaster recovery and check to form sure that any backup data don’t seem to be damaged in any way.

4. In What Ways are the Contents of Your Database Visible to You?

When a database has performance problems, it’s imperative to require action so as to stop the matter from becoming an enormous incident. Monitoring and alarms inherit play at this time, and any current solutions must be evaluated to determine whether or not they’re going to provide sufficient security when deployed within the cloud.

First things first, evaluate the advantages that include this database monitoring system and then make a listing of any extra features or capabilities that you just would really like to include. Take into consideration the factors that now depart alarms likewise as any server-specific alerts that will are configured.

Finally, give some thought to the frequency with which problems occur and whether or not you’d characterize the database as “difficult.” Cloud Migration gives a chance to seek out an answer to pre-existing issues, but it also has the potential to exacerbate pre-existing issues if they’re not addressed first. During the migration process, improving database visibility can help get things off to a robust start within the new environment.

5. What are the Steps Involved in Using the Database?

Another essential piece of knowledge that has to be gathered prior to the transfer is the total number of users who have access to the database, additionally to the permissions they need and therefore the amount of your time they spend using it. In cases where users have direct access, what styles of tools do they create use of, and the way was this access granted to them in the first place? You wish to remember who has access to the computer user dashboard if one is getting used.

Because moving to the cloud is a superb opportunity to wash up database user management and build new protocols, you ought to give serious consideration to the instance you wish to line and start within the same manner during which you plan to continue.

Conclusion

Finally, you would like to see what quantity of downtime your database can sustain during the conversion. This is often a crucial question. In many instances, so as to cut back this to a minimum, initial revision of the database is required; hence, it’s necessary to strike a balance between risks, timeframes, and budgets. This can be a necessary component of the “move and modernize” strategy, which makes it possible for businesses to possess a cloud migration process that’s more simplified and to start reaping the advantages of the cloud at an earlier date.

Cloud Migration of a database is accomplished in very kind of ways, and therefore these methods vary in keeping with the cloud provider and the management system. By asking yourself the aforementioned questions, you will help identify which strategy will work best for your particular situation. This might be a database migration service provided by AWS or Azure, or it may be something more bespoke.

The ‘lift and shift’ methodology is usually designated to be used in database migration projects. Although this can be quick and straightforward thanks to accessing the cloud, doing so may lead to a range of complications in the future. If your database team has never applied a migration before, it’s in your best interest to hunt the counsel of an expert. And Enteros is here to supply assistance.

About Enteros

Enteros offers a patented database performance management SaaS platform. It proactively identifies root causes of complex business-impacting database scalability and performance issues across a growing number of clouds, RDBMS, NoSQL, and machine learning database platforms.