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Cloud Migration

Best Cloud Migration Software

Simply put, cloud migration is a process where companies shift their hardware and software infrastructure (servers and applications) from, for example, a local office, to a cloud-based hosting provider. There are numerous advantages for an organization to migrate to a cloud-based solution (which we will explore later on), including freedom from worry regarding the scaling of infrastructure and a significant reduction in capital exposure.

Cloud Migration Types

It may seem a bit daunting for first-timers so let’s look at cloud-based (a.k.a., public cloud) options first.

IaaS Cloud Migration

For this option, the corporate server is moved from the local (sometimes shard) hosting server to a dedicated cloud server. Critical to this option is that all data and application(s) must function as intended on the new IaaS server post-migration. This migration can take longer than expected as developers will be involved due to the complexity of data dependencies and the functionality of the application(s).

PaaS Cloud Migration

Since these solutions’ primary purpose is making the process easier for the users, migrating to a PaaS solution is not as complicated. PaaS solutions assume the business lacks the onsite technical expertise to handle the migration process to the cloud. The cloud-based provider accomplishes this through a browser-based UI/Portal. This portal is what will facilitate the migration process. The chance of issues using this process are significantly lower with a moderate technical user initiating the PaaS process now rather than enlisting the services of a highly technical user.

SaaS Cloud Migration

The migration project will take a bit of time as it must be done most times in phases when moving from a local or shared hosting to a SaaS cloud solution. The first part involves setting up the basic structure of the application. Once development is done and testing is complete, any addons and other supporting components will then be moved on to the new SaaS server.

Benefits of Migrating to A Cloud-Based Solution

By migrating to a cloud-based solution, you will have opened up a wealth of new possibilities. This would affect high-level application architecture that would gather and process large volumes of data in real-time. When properly deployed, a cloud migration strategy will ensure a seamless, smooth cloud migration experience. The result is a hassle-free post-migration performance.

Scalable resources: The most obvious benefit in migrating to a cloud-based solution is the flexibility of server resources. Organizations will make use of this option when applications experience seasonal or interval periods of very high or very low requirements of hardware.

Reduction in overall cost: Competition is fierce, and every business looks inward to see where cost-effective savings can be achieved. With cloud migration, companies see major reduction in both operational and capital costs. This is because of the ‘pay-as-you-go’ type subscription business models that require you to only pay for licensing rather than for hardware infrastructure and technical personnel.

Mobility of use: Cloud-based solutions give all users the ability to experience the versatility of access and ease of use. Using an IP whitelisting feature, any user would be authorized access from virtually any part of the world, regardless of device. This particular function is commonly avaliable on all PaaS solutions.

Automation: Keeping servers updated, patched and fully compliant is no longer a concern. Cloud-based solutions will now ensure for example, all backend server API’s remain updated.

Flexibility in operations: Cloud-based solutions allow companies to deploy and test updated or new applications quickly over the cloud. No longer worried about compatibility and performance issues, development teams can now deploy applications through automated deployment options.

Secure Storage: To any organization, the opportunity to have their applications reside on servers that are highly secure and available at extremely reasonable costs is extremely tempting. Additionally, storage can easily be scaled up or down depending on business demand without disrupting the application usage.

Popular comparisons in Cloud Migration:

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Turbonomic

Cisco CloudCenter vs Turbonomic

Cisco CloudCenter vs Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Cloud Migration Process

Though all cloud migration processes are unique from vendor to vendor, the core processes involved with moving to the cloud remain basically similar. The real changes are in operational requirements and the choice of software and hardware tools.

Let’s examine the core processes of migrating to cloud infrastructure:

Assess

As a first step, this involves a detailed assessment of all resources required to migrate to the new cloud-based solution. Understanding what needs to be moved is critical. It is important to realize that there are applications uploaded to the public cloud without any issues, while others can be a difficult to near impossible to be migrated to a cloud-based environment.

Pilot testing: This stage is when a portion of the main application is moved to the cloud-based solution. This allows for monitoring user application performance post-migration with intent to move all over if the performance tests are positive. This is the level FYI, to evaluate global compatibility and security.

Initiate the migration: The question at this stage is whether moving the data or application over first will make a difference? The school of thought on this is by migrating data to a cloud environment, sets the stage for successful migration of the application later on.

Moving the applications: Now that the data has been uploaded, it is time to migrate the application(s). It is often the case that a ‘lift-and-shift’ strategy will work best. Monitoring and testing now will determine if an application re-architecture is warranted.

Optimize: Depending on your type of application and architecture, various optimization strategies would be available. Normally the most common theme is to see a reduction in the size of static assets while saving storage and bandwidth.

What are the best cloud migration strategies?

Users have a choice of several cloud migration strategies to move their app to the cloud. Listed below are some of the more common strategies used:

Rehosting (formerly ‘lift and shift’): This works well for companies looking to host their current legacy application again (to rehost) to a cloud-based solution.
Replatforming: It is commonly also known as the ‘lift, tinker-and-shift’ process. It involves tweaking of the process while keeping all core architecture unchanged. While it is a more costly option, it works for companies that can’t restructure existing legacy data to fit any new cloud migration requirements.
Repurchasing: This is a quick option to make use of a SaaS-based solution. In this process, SaaS takes all data (and application) and creates a new cloud-based product. It is a perfect solution for Human Resources, CRM, and CMS applications.
Re-architecting: For this strategy, in order to accommodate features native to the cloud, the applications architecture needs to be reimagined. The goal is to continue to cater to business needs but also add new features, scalability and performance.
Retire: The owner of the functional component of the application will need to determine if all the resources needed by the uploaded application are still justified. Deciding which to keep and which to retire will affect the bottom-line cost.
Retain: Known as ‘revisiting’, this strategy asks both development and business to review each component. All components need to be held to their own individual cost. This is the best way to determine the benefit and cost of the overall upload to avoid serious negative impact to business finances.

Final thoughts:

This is an important business decision to make. For the most part, it can already be stated that cloud migration is the best solution for today’s business. At the rate technology is pacing, maintaining local hardware and software, patches, and keeping it secure, alone are daunting tasks and the journey doesn’t stop there.

Top 8 Cloud Migration

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAPIBM TurbonomicNasuniAzure NetApp FilesAWS Server Migration ServiceNetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google CloudCisco CloudCenterCloudSphere

How are rankings calculated?

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
8.8
Rating
10
Reviews
833
Words/Review
12,025
Views
7,477
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Azure NetApp Files
- NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud
The ability to do a straight SnapMirror from our on-prem to the cloud with no other data transitions is excellent.ONTAP is great for helping you migrate on-premise workflows to cloud environments.
IBM Turbonomic
8.8
Rating
14
Reviews
1,736
Words/Review
10,184
Views
5,078
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- IBM Turbonomic vs Densify
- IBM Turbonomic vs Cisco CloudCenter
Before implementing Turbonomic, we had difficulty reaching a consensus about VM placement and sizing. Everybody's opinion was wrong, including mine. The application developers, implementers, and infrastructure team could never decide the appropriate size of a virtual machine. I always made the machines small, and they always made them too big. We were both probably wrong.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, IBM, Nasuni and others in Cloud Migration. Updated: March 2023.

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Nasuni
8.9
Rating
24
Reviews
1,679
Words/Review
6,202
Views
3,024
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Nasuni vs Azure NetApp Files
- Nasuni vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
My clients are happy with Nasuni because the transmission is seamless, and it consolidates all the existing file servers into one location. Also, Nasuni has no boundaries. It's infinitely expandable. They don't have to rely on the service provider for backup and restoration. It's self-serve.
Azure NetApp Files
8.5
Rating
4
Reviews
425
Words/Review
7,202
Views
5,361
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
- Azure NetApp Files vs Nasuni
This solution definitely makes us more efficient in being able to provide storage quickly to our customers in the Azure Cloud.Azure NetApp Files has been stable.
AWS Server Migration Service
10.0
Rating
1
Reviews
1,321
Words/Review
1,087
Views
849
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- AWS Server Migration Service vs CloudEndure Live Migration
- AWS Server Migration Service vs Nutanix Move
Mature, resilient, and seamless database and server migration solution that's stable and scalable.
NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud
9.0
Rating
2
Reviews
1,397
Words/Review
1,734
Views
822
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
- NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud vs Nasuni
Storage was taking up maybe 10 to 20% of my life at the startup, and now it takes up zero. I was personally running all the infrastructure for the company. Now that we've moved to NetApp, I don't have to worry about making sure it's up and running. It's made my life personally much better.

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Migration solutions are best for your needs.

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Cisco CloudCenter
7.3
Rating
3
Reviews
1,053
Words/Review
1,297
Views
947
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Cisco CloudCenter vs IBM Turbonomic
- Cisco CloudCenter vs Racemi Cloud Path
The solution includes a lot of features and is useful because you can configure all the way down to ports. I can define all components and create a blueprint for consumption across all services.
CloudSphere
7.7
Rating
3
Reviews
767
Words/Review
1,186
Views
900
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- CloudSphere vs IBM Turbonomic
- CloudSphere vs Densify
When I started using CloudSphere, it wasn't mature, and it had multiple issues. For example, my team experienced server issues while using the solution, but recently, I noticed how much CloudSphere has improved. There used to be some latency issues with CloudSphere. It even gave error messages in the past when you select an option such as "the web server is not responding", but it has improved a lot, and now I don't get any errors from CloudSphere. What I like best about CloudSphere is that it has a lot of beneficial features, and it has a single pane for managing multi-cloud environments, which I find very helpful, and it's the main benefit you can get from CloudSphere.

See all 32 solutions in Cloud Migration

NetApp Cloud Insights
8.5
Rating
2
Reviews
187
Words/Review
2,840
Views
950
Comparisons
CloudEndure Live Migration
8.0
Rating
3
Reviews
237
Words/Review
1,588
Views
1,228
Comparisons
NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS
9.0
Rating
1
Reviews
663
Words/Review
134
Views
92
Comparisons
Nutanix Move
9.0
Rating
3
Reviews
372
Words/Review
233
Views
115
Comparisons
Carbonite Migrate
7.0
Rating
1
Reviews
574
Words/Review
1,033
Views
376
Comparisons
Avepoint FLY
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
2,337
Views
233
Comparisons
Densify
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
1,118
Views
863
Comparisons
Velostrata
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
302
Views
228
Comparisons
Datomia
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
194
Views
149
Comparisons
DDN DataFlow
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
194
Views
128
Comparisons
SkyKick Migrate
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
199
Views
123
Comparisons
VNT Application Dependency Mapping Software
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
142
Views
97
Comparisons
Avepoint Migration Platform
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
121
Views
86
Comparisons
SkySync
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
187
Views
34
Comparisons
Foglight Evolve Cloud
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
104
Views
58
Comparisons
Xillio Content Migration
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
85
Views
56
Comparisons
Savision Cloud Reporter
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
78
Views
58
Comparisons
Racemi Cloud Path
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
79
Views
50
Comparisons
Cloud Technology Partners ADF
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
61
Views
45
Comparisons
Binary Tree Power365
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
74
Views
36
Comparisons
Proventeq Migration Accelerator
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
61
Views
25
Comparisons
CloudSwitch
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
38
Views
29
Comparisons
CloudM Migrate
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
53
Views
7
Comparisons
Clouds Daddy Cloud Migration Tool
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
2
Views
0
Comparisons

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Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, IBM, Nasuni and others in Cloud Migration. Updated: March 2023.

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685,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.