Introduction
Technology is opening up entirely new markets and creating innovative ways to serve customers. More and more organizations push digital innovation beyond experimentation to drive up their competitive advantage and to continuously deliver value. At the same time, app-driven disruption provides exponential growth opportunities for organizations that are ready to tap into the power of applications. It’s no longer just the unicorns that are digital disruptors. ‘Traditional’ companies are using cloud technology and investing in application modernization to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Let’s see a few examples of aging technology that increases risks, sophisticated threats and impedes innovation.
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Aadhar, the Indian government portal for storing information of its residents and biometric info experienced a leak that gave anyone access to obtain information from the Aadhar website. The compromised information included names of the Indian residents, their ID card numbers, and bank accounts. The breach was discovered in March 2018. Around 1.1 billion users’ data were leaked.
- Marriott Starwood hotels had experienced a data breach in 2014, where hackers accessed the reservation database of the hotel and copied guest information including phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, and even credit card numbers.
- Cathay Pacific Airways had been hacked in March 2018 and passenger data including 860,000 passport numbers, 245,000 Hong Kong identity card numbers, 403 expired credit card numbers, and 27 credit card numbers without card verification value were accessed through unlawful means.
In just minutes a breach can damage customer trust for a lifetime. To avoid such a breach, a strong security posture is critical to every industry to protect and secure data. Security is a top priority for senior executives. According to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, last year there were 53,308 security incidents and 2,216 data breaches across 65 countries. New threats and inside jobs have made it harder than ever for IT to secure data and applications.
Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2018
Source 1
4.2 Billion records stolen by hackers in 2016, Source: Risk Based Security Report, Date: 2017
Source 2
One in five organizations lose customers due to an attack, and nearly 30% lose revenue.
Source 3
$8 Trillion cost of cybercrime to the global economy by 2022. Source: Juniper Research Cybercrime & The Internet of Threats 2017 Whitepaper, Date: 2017
Source 4
Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report, Date: March 2017.
Here are some other resources that explain the importance of applying critical updates.
Security Update Guide: https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/
Example: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/06/13/june-2017-security-update-release/
Definition of Critical: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/gg309177.aspx
Robust new compliance regulations are required to safeguard data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes new rules on organizations that offer goods and services to people in the European Union (EU), or that collect and analyze data tied to EU residents, no matter where they are located. GDPR safeguard individual privacy rights.
GDPR accelerates compliance in your organization by:
- Enhancing personal privacy rights
- Increased duty to protect data
- Mandatory breach reports
- Significant penalties for non-compliance
Microsoft believes that the GDPR is an important step forward for clarifying and enabling individual privacy rights.
As the business world moves into the digital space to meet the next generation of customers, employees, and partners, create new efficiencies, and compete globally, organizations can’t view applications the same way as before – they must take them to the next level. Maintaining aging technology also creates barriers. Are your applications ready for this new tomorrow? Let’s see a few comparisons.
Legacy applications are silos and built for the web. Static applications serve up stored data in a monolithic environment. Servers and infrastructure ought to be managed and patched. An upfront capacity planning, fixed scale, and cost is mandatory. Prone to old security threats hence optimization is suspended for a decade.
Modern applications consist of applications such as multi-channel, web, mobile, agents, IoT, etc. Data-driven apps are developed and personalize in real-time. Evade maintenance efforts and increase your productivity by generating new innovations. Enhance with features like elasticity, unlimited scale, and high availability. Built-in intelligent threat detection, notify seamlessly with an alert mechanism.
A modernization strategy drives innovation + growth. Organizations that harness data, the cloud, and AI outperform their peers. This helps remove 80% of administrative tasks, allowing the organization to focus on application innovation, not administrative tasks. The organization used to spend significant time on server patching, networking setup, firewall configuration, and many other server-related tasks now included with Azure PaaS.”
On increased advanced data analysis; “By moving to Azure, we get away from managing core infrastructure and instead focus on making innovative services available to the company. “We’ve made a big change in the way we connect with our customers. By using sophisticated data analysis, we are able to make a personal connection that stands out in the vast sea of information that washes over us all every day" (InBev).
With the help of the cloud, we collect data we couldn’t before and this makes personal connections that stand out in a sea of information
Why do we need to select Azure among other cloud is a virtuous question?
App innovation might be tops down driven and needs to be dealt with strategically. Situations like the end of support, DC lease expiry, acquisition integration signal time-bound deadlines are adequate enough to choose a cloud service providers who can grant all the necessity in one place.
EOS presents opportunity to modernize your infrastructure & avoid business risk. Lack of security updates, Compliance & regulatory concerns, addon cost for support and yet might have missed innovation opportunities.
You pay less with Azure, as AWS is 5x more expensive. You receive extended security updates, which are free only on Azure. You can attain 3 years of security updates after support ends. It almost cost 75% of the license cost to buy standalone, so try to reuse existing licenses with Azure Hybrid Benefit.
Here are 3 reasons why we should migrate/modernize 2008 server applications to Azure:
Innovation
It helps to embrace cloud innovation, as you migrate to gain agility, performance, and global scale. It also maximizes your productivity, with fully-managed Azure services, and focuses your energy on driving the business forward.
- Azure SQL Database Managed Instance delivers unparalleled consistency, compatibility, and performance vs. AWS RDS. Migrate your SQL Server databases without changing your apps.
- Azure SQL Datawarehouse delivers unmatched price-performance vs. AWS RedShift.
- Windows Server and Azure deliver unique integrated hybrid experiences: Trigger migration to Azure. Backup to Azure. Turn on Disaster Recovery. All in a few clicks.
[Why not on-premises]
- Migrate your mission-critical applications and workloads – Windows, SQL, Linux - to Azure IaaS, which delivers reliable infrastructure at a global scale.
- Migrate your ASP.NET websites to Azure App Service for a highly productive experience, where we manage the infrastructure so you can focus on your apps.
Pay less with Azure
Azure is the most cost-effective for Windows and SQL Server. AWS is 5x more expensive. Reduce TCO as you move to Azure using our unique offers & optimized infrastructure.
[Why not AWS]
AWS is 5x more expensive with Azure Hybrid Benefit and free extended security updates available only in Azure.
[Why not on-premises]
- Realize substantive cost savings with free extended security updates, Azure Hybrid Benefit, and optimized infrastructure. Save up to $750K when you move one hundred 2008 servers to Azure.
- Azure offers free tools before, during, and after migration: Azure Migrate, Azure Site Recovery, Azure DMS, and Azure Cost Management.
Security and compliance
Migrate to Azure, which carries the most trust with enterprises. Minimize business risk by strengthening your security and compliance posture.
[Why not AWS and on-premises]
- Helps meet compliance requirements with the most comprehensive certifications of any cloud provider. Never have to worry about another end of the support cycle. Migrate your SQL Servers to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance, an ‘evergreen’ service that is kept patched and updated by Microsoft.
- Move your Windows/SQL Servers to Azure Virtual Machines and you’re covered for three more years with extended security updates. Use this time to fully plan and execute your modernization efforts.
- Counter sophisticated cyberthreats with built-in, multi-layered controls in Azure. Your workloads get continuous protection with rich threat intelligence from Azure Security Center.
- Optimize for speed and control. Use Azure Blueprints to set up and govern your Azure environments and help ensure compliance during migration.
We all heard about the 4R scenarios, rehost, refactor, rebuild, or rearchitect. There is a simple strategy to adopt the right R for your workload.
Refer to the diagram below:
Let’s talk about two very common customer patterns that we run into. I have framed them here as customer transformation journeys. Note that everyone wants to transform – so it’s ok to paint the full picture of transformation in your initial pitch.
Path #1 is where a customer comes to you and says – 'We want to get out of our on-premises DC and go all-in on the cloud.'
Define migration projects with deadlines to address customer urgency. Group 3-5 related apps/workloads in each project; avoid lengthy assessments. It is very likely that they have a set deadline, so go back to the DC lease expiry or run out of capacity. In some cases, they might even run into capability issues.
Long story short – but your first order of business is to move them over to Azure and then modernize from there. Invite them to rehost or lift-optimize-shift to Azure. You save money, improve security, and most importantly – get to repurpose your staff from having to do undifferentiated work and instead participate more directly in driving business priorities.
App innovation + Ops efficiency focus
The second pattern we’ve seen is when a customer wants to accelerate cloud adoption, but not really ready to go all in.
In this case, the full migration and modernization can see the path to full transformation.
Then you spin up two kinds of projects in parallel:
- Migration projects: Decide which workload tranches can still lift-optimize-shift (apply the same timeline vector based on the trigger)
- Modernization projects: Help them identify a few strategic apps and work with your customers to refactor or rebuild those apps.
Again, do not get stuck on full-scale assessments. It is recommended not to perform ACR when we do assessments. Identify an app or a set of related apps and keep workloads flowing into Azure.
What does “modern infrastructure” mean?
- Azure IaaS offers a purpose-built IT infrastructure designed to fit your company’s needs, rather than the other way around
- This is accomplished by utilizing the experience we’ve gained in a 300,000-plus partner global ecosystem, which is 5 times greater than Google’s partner network.
- Microsoft also has deep experience with many different kinds of industries
- Microsoft’s global data centers offer you support for all your applications when and where you need it
- We are differentiated from our competitors by offering a first-class experience that has been recognized by such partner certifications as SAP and Red Hat
- Microsoft supports any specialized needs you may have—regardless of whether you are managing on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-only infrastructures
Purpose-built infrastructure
A combination of virtual machines and purpose-built large instances provides the largest scale and widest range for your workloads.
With an on-demand infrastructure, you and leverage per-minute billing and scale your CPU and RAM usage up or down based on your application workloads.
However, for large instances, on-demand infrastructure can be cost-prohibitive. That’s why Azure offers purpose-built infrastructures, which allow you to customize your infrastructure based on your specific workload needs.
Linux and Open Source
- Given Microsoft makes Windows Server, there is no better place to run Windows platforms than on Windows Server. They were, quite literally, made for each other.
- 33% of Microsoft s partners are running Linux.
- Which is why Microsoft has established relationships with big Linux providers.
- In fact, Microsoft is doing something the industry has never seen before … we’ve developed an integrated support model with Red Hat support sitting with our support teams in Redmond.
- “Red Hat really impressed us with its enterprise-grade support. We were surprised that Red Hat is open source and Azure support resided in the same office. ”
—Richard Hum: Studio Head —Throwback Entertainment.
Reliable infrastructure to rehost any workload
Common migration/modernization app patterns
Type 1 - Application Migration – Azure IaaS and Azure SQL Database Managed Instance (MI)
In this example, I’m part of a hospitality company named SmartHotel360. As part of modernizing our services and streamlining infrastructure support, we are planning to re-host the application that is used by the front desk to check customers in or out and manage details of their stay. This app is critical to the business, but as it’s really a back-office capability and not a priority to invest and transform the app. I want to quickly get value from Azure by rehosting this application. This app is running on vintage Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 platforms virtualized in VMWare. As you can see here it includes a dedicated app and data tiers running in a load-balanced environment. Let’s now walk you through an assessment with Azure Migrate and rehost the application layer to Azure IaaS virtual machines and the data layer to fully manage the database target of Azure SQL Managed Instance.
Type 2 - Application Migration — Azure IaaS
In this example I’m part of a hospitality company named SmartHotel360. As part of modernizing our services and streamlining infrastructure support, we are planning to re-host the application that is used by the front desk to check customers in or out and manage details of their stay. This app is critical to the business, but as it’s really a back-office capability and not a priority to invest and transform the app. I want to quickly get value from Azure by rehosting this application. This app is running on vintage Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 platforms virtualized in VMWare. As you can see here it includes a dedicated app and data tiers running in a load-balanced environment. Let’s now walk you through an assessment with Azure Migrate and rehost the application layer to Azure IaaS virtual machines and the data layer to Azure IaaS virtual machines.
Type 3 - Application Migration — App Service and Azure Database SQL Managed Instance (MI)
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In this example, I’m part of a hospitality company named SmartHotel360. As part of modernizing our services and streamlining infrastructure support, we are planning to re-host the application that is used by the front desk to check customers in or out and manage details of their stay. This app is critical to the business, but as it’s really a back-office capability and not a priority to invest and transform the app. I want to quickly get value from Azure by rehosting this application. This app is running on vintage Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 platforms virtualized in VMWare. As you can see here it includes a dedicated app and data tiers running in a load-balanced environment. Let’s now walk you through an assessment with Azure Migrate and rehost the application layer to Azure IaaS virtual machines and the data layer to fully manage the database target of Azure SQL Managed Instance.
Azure Migration Strategy
The figure above shows the Azure migration experience. Let’s walk through the key phases of this experience.
Assess
This phase is about the discovery and assessment of on-premises resources for Azure migration. Azure Migrate is our free, built-in tool for infrastructure assessment.
Migrate
This phase is about defining and executing migration and modernization strategies – rehost, refactor, and rearchitect. We have great tools like ASR and Azure DB Migration Service to help with reshooting. And then we have some great Azure capabilities to help customers refactor and re-architect their apps.
Optimize
Many customers look to the cloud to gain operational efficiencies and cost savings. With Azure Cost Management, customers can now manage their cloud spend in a unified experience, and leverage built-in best practice recommendations (e.g., turning off idle VMs) to drive operational efficiency. They can apply Azure Hybrid Benefit and Azure Reserved Instances during or after migration for big savings.
Secure and Manage
We understand that securing and managing migrated resources is critical, both during migration and on an ongoing basis. With Azure security and management, customers can take advantage of built-in intelligent services for their Azure and on-premises workloads. We highly recommend turning on Azure Security Center, Azure Backup, and Azure Log Analytics right after the resource is migrated, followed by fine-tuning over time.
To support these phases, Microsoft helps in the following way,
- Migration tools in the Azure migration center (a single place for all things migration)
- Step by step scenario guides
- FastTrack for Azure for handholding by MSFT
- Azure Expert MSPs which is a group of highly skilled Azure partners to help you.
Finally, it is recommended with a set of best practices based on our learnings from helping customers in real-world migration projects. These include skilling up your people, investing in the right plans and processes (e.g., biz case for migration, migration strategy planning, tracking migration progress), and having tech pre-requisites in place (network, identity, security, management, governance).
Summary
Application Modernization transforms your business into taking the most advantage of cloud services. Take your applications to the cloud to leverage the scalability, reliability, and performance of Azure. Modern applications and mobile devices reach more customers and cut costs. You can integrate Azure into the development process. Evaluate Azure Services for a production deployment. You get to learn best practices on deployment, management, and integration, also accelerate the adoption of Azure services by modernizing legacy applications. In the future, you can develop a roadmap for an enterprise-wide Azure Services deployment.
There are a few key benefits to transforming and modernizing your existing application:
Flexible migration options with hybrid support
- Hybrid infrastructure (Windows Admin Center, Azure Security Center, Azure AD)
- Hybrid apps and data (Azure + Azure Stack, common data platform)
- On-premises server innovation
Cost-effective throughout the entire migration experience
- Azure Hybrid Benefit
- Free security updates for EOS servers (for 3 years after EOS timeline)
- Free tools to get started
- Free cost management solution
High confidence, lower risk migration
- Decades of enterprise experience
- Secure/Compliant EOS servers (for 3 years after EOS timeline)
- Azure migration-center
- Rich partner ecosystem