Migrating to the cloud and employing it for operations has become a critical business strategy for firms looking to avail the benefits of digital transformations.
There are multiple different types of models that can help them in their migration. Two of them are the Rehosting and the Replatforming.
Deciding which model to select depends on the firm’s resources, technical requirements, and objectives.
Discover the advantages and disadvantages of both strategies.
Rehosting as a Cloud Migration Model
Essentially, the migration works on simply lifting and shifting the necessary applications and other data on to the cloud. Few to no changes are made for this transition.
The advantages are:
- Faster Implementation Speed: There are low to minimal changes made in this lift-and-shift model. Since there are no modifications being made to applications, the cloud migration can be done relatively faster.
- Reduced Initial Costs: Additionally, since there are fewer changes made to existing applications and data, the initial costs during migration are lower.
However, there are significant hurdles with this strategy. The challenges are:
- Lowered Optimization: Since the data is in the same format, native cloud features such as autoscaling cannot be fully utilized.
- Transfer of Existing Issues: Existing applications can have issues present that would be transferred to the cloud infrastructure during migration.
Thus, the challenges are significant in the ‘lift-and-shift’ model. So, Rehosting is a feasible cloud migration strategy when there is a need for the immediate shift of legacy applications.
Also Read: Cloud Compliance Checklist You Need to Know Before Migrating
Replatforming as a Cloud Migration Model
Rewriting the entire application for migration is tiresome. Thus, many opt to make the necessary changes to avail benefits of cloud features without the need to change the application.
This could be through changing how the program interacts with data without changing the core architecture.
The advantages are:
- Usage of Cloud Features: Native cloud features can be used in a Replatform model which improves reliability of the platform and its flexibility.
- Higher Optimization with Less Complex Changes: Since some of the applications are easily modified for the cloud environment, performance post-migration is better. It helps in reducing overall costs.
However, there are significant hurdles with this strategy. The main challenge is:
- Time and Resource Allocated for Redesign: The modifications made naturally require allocation of time and resources. This may delay the migration.
Thus, replatforming can bring many benefits to businesses with reasonable changes to applications. It is ideal for applications that require cloud features without requiring a complete reconstruction.
