A customer from the telecommunications sector in Europe wanted to migrate their vast array of servers (2,350), hosting business-critical apps, to Azure Stack. The requirement was to securely migrate their entire compute and storage environment from three data centers across different geolocations with the least possible downtime.
There were other challenges, too, namely:
- Analyzing the servers against existing Azure Stack configurations to identify suitable flavors and assessing their compatibility without compromising security.
- Migrating legacy servers while refactoring for adaptability.
- Determining Cloud feasibility and cost modeling based on the results of the scan.
- Data and file synchronization with zero data loss.
The complexity of the task and a lack of Cloud migration expertise inhibited their journey. They required a solution that automated the entire process while ensuring business continuity. The customer’s partner chose Corent’s MaaS (Migration-as-a-Service)—through a regional services partner—as the migration engine. MaaS securely assessed the globally spread environment and migrated the servers with near-zero downtime. Here’s how:
- Scanned and assessed the data centers to offer a deep understanding of deployable workloads with advisories for optimal placement into the rightsized Azure Stack environment.
- Modeled the customer’s Azure Stack with the knowledge base required to start secure assessment and migration planning.
- Quickly identified EOL workloads with its AI-powered engine. Issued an R-lane refactoring advisory to finetune workloads’ Cloud adaptability.
- MaaS’ insightful procedures cut through the clutter to reduce the number of prerequisites. Also, MaaS offered accurate TCO for all proposed deployment models.
- Offered a highly configurable automated provisioning solution to scale migration with near zero downtime without any data loss.
This seamless migration was made possible by Corent’s unique position as the sole end-to-end Azure Stack journey enabler. Given the various components associated with Azure Stack, service providers are hard-pressed to distill the best tools from disparate solutions to enable the Azure Stack transition. There are other challenges, too, including:
- The paucity of well-trained resources.
- Huge tech investments and related upskilling.
- Mapping workloads and rightsizing.
- Handling End of Life (EOL) servers while identifying modernization possibilities.
The search for newer services or product offerings becomes intense as the MSP space becomes crowded – even ISVs are entering the mix. Partners can easily rebrand MaaS and offer seamless Azure Stack integration to their customers in a well-rounded package that alleviates all pain points associated with the migration.
Why Azure?
Azure Stack is an Azure service suite that lets you develop applications from the environment of your choice. The environment could be an edge location, on-prem data centers, or Clouds. Azure Stack’s solutions empower customers to run their virtualized on-prem environment. Besides bolstering their aging server infrastructure, it offers many benefits, including integration with Microsoft Azure for Cloud-based backup, monitoring, and site recovery.
What does Corent do differently?
While there is a surfeit of solutions on the market, none offers the level of customization and optimization like Corent. MaaS sums up the best advisories through its intuitive single-pane approach, where all the data that matter gets collated with suitable action advisories. MaaS’ integrated scanning, assessment, and migration capabilities target all three components of Azure Stack, creating an easy workflow to move your workloads into a rightsized Azure Stack environment. MaaS allows you to migrate workloads from on-premises, between Clouds, and even Azure to Azure Stack. For customers lacking the skills or workforce to carry out migration by themselves, Corent offers white-glove factory services. One of our partners’ customers wanted to migrate their BFSI application from the private Cloud to Azure Stack. Given that the customer was from a highly regulated and compliance-intensive banking and financial sector, security was paramount on the requirement list. Also, the customer insisted on using their VM licenses post-migration, with zero downtime or data loss.
Corent’s Indonesia-based partner chose MaaS to meet the stringent requirements set by the customer. MaaS generated insightful advisories with the most suitable actions after a threadbare assessment. MaaS enabled the partner to select existing network security rules while suggesting better hardware configuration for improved performance. The result was a seamless, automated migration of the customer environment to a truly consistent hybrid Cloud platform with zero data loss and near-zero downtime.
The migration to Azure Stack was replete with challenges, the prominent being:
- VMs had both Private and Public IPs to ensure secure internal communication and provide access to external application users.
- Existing network security rules had to be applied while migrating VMs to Microsoft Azure Stack. This was necessary to adhere to existing security measures and reduce setup time.
- Migrating a server with Software Defined Storage (SDS).
Here, too, Corent’s partner leveraged the capabilities of MaaS to ensure a seamless transition while adhering to compliance and security norms.
- MaaS offered automated on-the-fly Cloud migration without downtime.
- The application was migrated as-is through a Vanguard scanner using Lift and Shift migration technique.
- Allowed the customer to select existing network security rules and suggested better hardware configuration for improved performance.
- Categorized VMs during launch based on the customer’s preference to use their Windows license after migration.
The value offered by MaaS was plenty. Besides saving time and cost by reusing existing resources, MaaS resized resources based on customer needs. The partner could leverage MaaS’ inherent ability to balance flexibility and control for a truly consistent Hybrid Cloud. This way, MaaS empowered developers to build and deploy applications the same way on Microsoft Azure or Microsoft Azure Stack for accelerated development.
Why Corent’s MaaS is the solution you want
MaaS is the sum of different specialty components that are not easily duplicated/replicated. Hence, the chances of MaaS getting commoditized like other offerings are slim. Besides, Corent’s experts seamlessly integrate with the partner environment to offer expert advice and transfer the tech know-how to handle our easy-to-use solutions for a rapid transition. Here’s what you get with MaaS as your chief migration driver:
- Swift Modeling
- MaaS, within hours, can model your Azure Stack with the knowledge base required to start secure assessment and migration planning.
- Refactoring to Handle EOL
- The scan can quickly identify end-of-life workloads with its AI-powered engine. It issues an R-lane refactoring advisory to finetune workloads’ Cloud adaptability.
- Insights into Workloads
- Gain a deep understanding of deployable workloads with advisories for optimal placement into the rightsized Azure Stack environment.
- Modernization Advisories
- Automated modernization advisories and actions to launch compatible workloads directly to PaaS services or Containers.
- TCO Projection
- Get accurate TCO analysis and histograms for precise VM sizing of all workloads to match your Azure Stack.
- Auto-provisioning
- A highly configurable automated provisioning solution allows you to scale migration with near zero downtime without any data loss.
A highly configurable automated provisioning solution allows you to scale migration with near zero downtime without any data loss.
How to get started?
MaaS removes the layer of complexity and makes migration to Azure Stack seamless. You can hit the ground running with Corent’s MaaS, which also integrates tightly with Azure Stack.
To learn more, get in touch with our experts now.
Edited By Shafi Syed. February 14, 2023