Use these helpful tips from DNS Made Easy to aid your data migration.
No one likes to move. There’s the endless packing, going through items, tossing out unused, broken or old things and deciding where to put everything in the new place.
Moving your data files, applications and information to cloud-based technology means much of the same heartache, in addition to trying to maintain data safety and integrity.
Typically, it is cheaper and more efficient to operate applications in the clouds. These aren’t daydreams of somewhere over the rainbow, but real, ways to increase speed, accessibility and effect the bottom line.
Before you start coping and pasting, deleting and data dumps, here are a few helpful tips from DNS Made Easy experts on the best way to migrate to cloud services:
1. Plan, plan, plan. You can’t move an entire building in one day, don’t expect to migrate your data and applications all in one sitting. Moving bit by bit to the cloud makes the most sense. It allows you to select the most appropriate department – or business application, or regional office, or whatever works for you – to essentially pilot the move. This plan allows future users a gradual merge into a new technical arena. Find out, before your move: Where will the data reside? How will it communicate with the application and interface services? What about integrity issues? What about security issues? Figuring out the data issues after making the move to a cloud platform often means hitting a wall and delaying use of data and applications.
2. Know what you are getting. Just as you wouldn’t buy a house without knowing the square footage, don’t buy into cloud services without knowing what you are buying. Make sure you are not storing content unnecessarily, especially if you have low storage limits or high storage costs. Second, know how much data you are storing in your cloud environment up front. Be able to access that content whenever you want, not just on the monthly billing report from the vendor.
3. Calculate costs. Watch out for vendors who want to charge you for downloads, or have fees based on hourly usage because those can add up quick. In addition, know and understand the billing and services. Other costs to check for include hosting in or outside the United States, fees for extra bandwidth, storage and public IP addresses.
4. Test your applications. Some applications may not always work right away after migrating them to the cloud. You need to determine whether there are any subtle changes that could affect your application. Focus on the type of cloud you are migrating to and make the necessary tweaks to your application before the transition. This also means selecting the right security model for the application, plus the right technology to support that model.
5. Monitor your performance. Don’t just unpack and leave the room. Make sure you know what’s going on and how it is working. Monitor the performance of your applications and data use before going live. In addition, monitor performance after you complete the migration.
6. Have a backup plan. Before you begin migrating, you must also know what to do in case anything should go wrong and you need to undo the process. Failure is a possibility and you need to be ready and able to recover data and applications if there is any issue while migrating. If you don’t plan for a failure, it becomes all the more painful if one occurs.
