BEST PRACTICES FOR AS400 CLOUD MIGRATION: 6 STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Organizations are continuously searching for methods to reduce their IT expenditures while optimizing operations and improving efficiency, given the current economic slump and unstable socio-political landscape. The cloud emerges as a viable solution to address this concern. Savvy business leaders across the world are increasingly choosing to modernize their legacy AS400 environments by moving their systems to the cloud. By strategically modernizing their age-old systems, these businesses can realize a wide range of benefits-enhanced agility, optimized costs, and improved scalability to name a few.
Having said that, navigating the cloud migration process is no mean feat; it entails a well-planned approach in the absence of which organizations may face technical bottlenecks, data loss as well as unplanned downtime. Given the nature of the complexities involved, businesses must tread with caution, and follow certain best practices to ensure a smooth, secure, and cost-effective transition.
In this guide, we have compiled a list of best practices that can help businesses successfully move their legacy systems to the cloud. We’ve also briefly touched upon the key advantages of cloud migration. So, let’s get started.
Why Migrate Your AS400 Systems to the Cloud?
Before we dwell on the best practices, let’s explore the reasons that compel businesses to move their systems to the cloud:
- Improved Agility: Transitioning to the cloud empowers your organization to swiftly accommodate the changing IT requirements. This is because you can easily scale up as the demand soars and scale down during lean periods. In other words, your business can bid adieu to the limitations posed by physical in-house AS400 servers.
- Predictable Billing: Cloud service providers typically follow a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means you need to pay only for the resources consumed. This way, you can avoid a lot of unforeseen expenses that tend to arise when you maintain on-premises data centers. This way, you can look forward to a more predictable billing cycle.
- Reduced Costs: Migrating your AS400 systems to the cloud can also bring down the day-to-day expenses associated with maintaining your systems, upgrading software, or replacing hardware. In fact, according to a recent study by VMWare, large organizations can achieve up to 40-50% cost savings by shifting their workloads to the public cloud.
- Enhanced Security: The majority of the cloud service offerings are designed keeping security and privacy in mind-security is never an afterthought. And that’s why all popular cloud solutions come with built-in security features including role-based authentication, data encryption, and many more. Plus, they also comply with all common industry certifications: PCI-DSS, SOC, and HIPAA. This means you can rest assured knowing your data is in safe hands.
6 Best Practices for a Seamless AS400 Cloud Migration
- Assess Your Current Infrastructure
- Develop a Detailed Migration Plan
- Identify Roles and Responsibilities
- Establish Key Performance Indicators
- Conduct a Migration Dry Run
- Leverage Automation for Efficient Operations
1. Assess Your Current Infrastructure: Before you kickstart the migration process, make sure to take a comprehensive inventory of your existing AS400 environment, including servers, storage, networking, applications, and data. It’s vital that you document the interdependencies between these components to understand the level of support and resources you’ll likely require during the migration process. Also, evaluate the performance metrics of your on-premises AS400 systems: network latency, memory and CPU usage, and I/O throughput. Doing so will help you effectively assess if the cloud migration has helped you achieve the desired outcomes.
2. Develop a Detailed Migration Plan: Now that you have a clear understanding of your current infrastructure, you can start building a robust migration plan. Decide which components need to be migrated and in which order, depending on factors such as business impact and complexity. As a rule of thumb, you should adhere to a phased migration approach where less important, less complex components can be migrated first, as these demand much less planning and coordination.
Another crucial aspect of the migration plan is establishing a realistic migration timeline. How long will the migration take? What steps should be taken at each stage of the migration process? Make sure to factor in the weeks leading up to migration as well as the time needed for testing, validation, and rollbacks if any.
3. Identify Roles and Responsibilities: Cloud migration projects are intricate in nature and may involve several processes including data transfer, testing, troubleshooting, and more. Make sure to assign roles and responsibilities for each of these processes to specific individuals or teams while guiding them on the tasks they are required to perform. If possible, make use of a project management system to effectively assign, manage, and track all deliverables.
Additionally, you will need to create a communication plan for all internal and external stakeholders who rely on your AS400 systems: C-suite, project teams, customers, and partners. Identify the communication channels through which you’ll keep these stakeholder groups updated on the progress of the migration, including any modifications to the original timeline and challenges that may arise. At this point, you may also consider establishing a process to troubleshoot post-migration issues by providing timely assistance or resources.
4. Establish Key Performance Indicators: To understand if AS400 migration services are helping you meet your business objectives, it’s essential that you establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) as you transfer your legacy systems to the cloud. While some businesses are enticed by the prospect of slashing capital expenditure and replacing it with predictable operational costs, others seek the high agility and scalability that cloud services provide.
Regardless of what you aim to achieve with your cloud migration initiatives, it’s best to put these KPIs in place before you kick off the migration process. KPIs can also help you assess the cost-effectiveness of the entire migration exercise, which means you can justify increased investment in certain areas if it helps fulfill your goals.
5. Conduct a Migration Dry Run: To ensure a hassle-free changeover, you must carry out a dry run before commencing the actual migration. With a trial run, you can identify any compatibility, configuration, and performance issues beforehand and resolve them proactively.
For a successful dry run, you’ll need to clone your current infrastructure and data to your cloud service provider and carry out the planned migration strategy on the cloned infrastructure, repeating the process till you achieve the desired results. Based on the lessons learned in the dry run, you can optimize your existing migration plan while keeping your on-premises AS400 environment intact.
6. Leverage Automation for Efficient Operations: In a process as resource-intensive as cloud migration, prioritizing efficiency becomes critical, and that’s where the role of automation comes in. Repetitive tasks are inevitable during migration, and employing automation tools makes sure they are executed in the most seamless manner.
By failing to leverage automation, your business may face the risk of extended downtime, both internally as well for your clients; this can lead to more significant challenges down the line. Additionally, automation solutions help you avoid delays, and adhere to a meticulously planned migration timeline.
Final Thoughts
Migrating critical AS400 systems to the cloud has become a strategic imperative for organizations looking to stay ahead in a dynamic technology landscape. While cloud migration is a complex endeavor, businesses can ensure a successful transition by following a structured, well-thought-out approach. By adhering to the aforementioned best practices, they can maximize the ROI of their cloud investments and position themselves for long-term growth.
