It is now possible for every business to transition their data in-house and out to the cloud at the same time, with options like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce Data Migration Service, and many more. However, companies often struggle with the big data migration process because of its complexities. Here are ways to successfully migrate large data into the cloud.
1. Have a Perfect Reason for the Move
Before digging deeper into data migration, you must have a clear reason for the move to the cloud. Begin with understanding the question “what is data migration?” The basic definition of data migration is to move the data from one storage location to another. In this case, the storage location is your own company’s data files, and the destination is a cloud service provider. This can be helpful for your organization if you want to keep all of your web services in-house but still have access to data from any browser via an API. Some reasons for moving your data to the cloud might include the following.
- Reduce your company’s storage expenses by moving data to the cloud
- Reduce your company’s energy expenses
- Increase flexibility regarding service delivery and IT support by deploying applications in a public cloud environment.
- Enable access to an IT-enabled environment from anywhere with a browser and internet connection via APIs.
2. Evaluate the Providers Carefully
Evaluating the cloud providers will help businesses to decide which cloud service makes the most sense for their particular needs. Businesses can select the providers that offer an ideal combination of all of the major features and support, including security, flexibility, speed, versioning, etc. It helps to research extensively about their portfolio services. Moreover, it is important to test out companies on migration projects before deciding on a provider or service.
3. Understand the Pricing Arrangement
It is crucial to review the pricing scheme of the cloud provider before moving there. The scheme of cloud hosting varies from provider to provider. At times, one may choose to pay a fixed fee for the storage space utilized by their data, and at other times, one may need to pay for each service utilized. Some cloud providers charge for data migration, but others do not charge for this process. It is always wise to know what you will be charged before migrating the data.
4. Ensure Data Security
It is paramount to ensure the security of your data before it gets migrated to the cloud. It is also imperative that you do not skip this step in the planning process because it can be the difference between a successful project and failure. The data which is being migrated should be backed up properly and then secured on a different system with encryption.
Cloud storage has many security benefits, but it is important to ensure that your data is encrypted properly before it goes into the cloud. You should ensure that the encryption service provider you select is reliable and trustworthy.
5. Know All About Database
Data migration toward the cloud has its specific requirements, especially when it involves relational database systems (RDBMS). For example, cloud providers such as Amazon RDS only support certain types of databases and do not support others. If a database type is supported, then you should perform a database migration to move the data from your organization’s system over to that database server.
In this situation, customers should contact the technology provider and ask them to create a virtual private database (VPD) instance via Amazon RDS. VPDs replicate external data into the database at regular intervals so that the application can utilize it. In the case of multiple databases that need to be synchronized, this is very useful.
6. Create a Data Migration Plan
It is crucial to create a data migration plan before beginning the migration process because it will help you to divide the task into smaller steps, which can make things easier to manage and track. The first step would be deciding whether you want to migrate all of your data at once or in phases and how much data you should move initially. You should make sure to include your team members in this discussion. Once the migration plan is created, it should be reviewed by the whole team and discussed in detail.
7. Train Your Staff
During the data migration process, your staff might face some obstacles. It is important to be prepared for these and prepare your team members. You should provide them with the information that they need to make an informed decision on how best to deal with any issues that may arise during the process. Some of these issues may include having two copies of a database – one on-premises and one in the cloud.
Conclusion
Data migration to the cloud is not an easy task, but it can be made easier by following the right steps and making sure that the entire team is on board for this process. If you have a sound plan and support from your team members, the data migration to the cloud should be successful.
