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Editor's note: Read Part I of this feature here.
Workload migration: starting with the low hanging fruit
Figuring out what applications and data to move to the cloud is a balancing
exercise between the acceptable risk and the value obtained from the migration.
Risk factors include ensuring that the security level -- level of confidentiality,
integrity, and availability -- of the data and applications is maintained. It
also includes having confidence that all applicable privacy related laws will
be followed (for example, laws related to trans-border information flow) as
well as protection of all intellectual property (IP) rights.
There are a few technology related issues as well. For example, every enterprise
has a unique multi-layered network infrastructure for accessing servers and
allowing applications to securely communicate between components. The infrastructure
includes specific addressing (sub-nets), address services like DHCP/DNS, identity
and directory services like LDAP, and firewalls and routing rules -- all reflecting
the specific requirements and evolution of the given enterprise.
The same discussion applies to a cloud as well. It too has unique networking
infrastructures that support complex and flexible multi-tenant environments.
A significant impedance mismatch between your networking infrastructure and
that of your cloud could lead to integration issues as you embark on moving
more complex workloads to the cloud that need to interact with in-house applications
and data.
The effort involved in effectively managing your cloud infrastructure should
not be underestimated either. Integrating with your cloud might require programming
the cloud APIs for configuring IP addresses, subnets and firewalls, as well
as data service functions for your storage.
This may necessitate changes to your internal processes and control systems
to integrate with the cloud infrastructure management. There may be mismatches
to deal with your enterprise-specific platform and the platform provided by
your cloud in the form of templates. Patch management and other maintenance
activities may also be a challenge as techniques that work internally might
not work in your cloud.
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