IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) platforms manage workload migrations by providing tools and processes that facilitate the transfer of applications and data from one environment to another. This could involve moving workloads from an on-premises data center to the cloud or between different cloud providers. Generally, this migration process consists of assessment, planning, execution, and optimization. During assessment, organizations analyze their current workloads to understand dependencies, performance requirements, and potential challenges. IaaS platforms typically offer monitoring tools that help identify these factors, making it easier to develop a migration strategy.
Once the assessment is complete, the next step is planning the migration. IaaS providers often offer services like cloud storage solutions, network configurations, and security settings that can be tailored to the migrated workloads. For instance, if a team is migrating a web application, they might choose a virtual machine (VM) with the necessary resources and configure load balancers to manage traffic efficiently. Some IaaS platforms also provide templates or blueprints that help automate the configuration process, ensuring that the workload is set up to run optimally in the new environment.
The execution phase involves the actual transfer of the workloads, and this can be done through various methods such as lift-and-shift, replatforming, or refactoring. IaaS providers offer migration tools like AWS Migration Hub or Azure Migrate that simplify this process. For example, these tools can help replicate virtual machines from an on-premises environment directly to the cloud and automatically configure them during the migration. After the migration is completed, organizations should continuously monitor the workloads to ensure they are performing as expected in the new setup and make optimizations as needed, leveraging the built-in analytics offered by the IaaS platforms.