Fix Your Databases Now As You Migrate To The Cloud

According to a new Gartner study, 75% of databases will be hosted on the cloud by 2022. Organizations that move their on-premises databases to the cloud gain greater flexibility and scalability, faster infrastructure deployment, consumption-based pricing, and access to more database management systems. But migrating databases is the most difficult component of cloud migration, requiring downtime, a reworking of data structures, and redesigning of applications.

There must be a data migration before the database can be relocated. Data migration is fraught with danger. Gartner estimates that 83% of data transfers run over their budgets and schedules or fail completely. However, the advantages of taking this big risk outweigh the risks. Iterative cloud migrations are the norm for large corporations. Migrating data in an orderly and secure manner reduces the risks of moving databases and applications, later on, boosts application performance, increases query efficiency and response time, streamlines deployment processes, strengthens security, and improves data governance, putting businesses in a better position to comply with GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and other data privacy regulations.

For a smooth transition, use the following useful checklist:

Analyze the current state of your data

Before you do anything further, be sure you know exactly what you're dealing with, including any potential risks or difficulties you may run into. To successfully complete your proof of concept, you must first understand the challenges you will face. Assess applications to ensure that they are cloud-compatible; identify which databases and apps are mission-critical, and identify which databases and apps need to remain on-prem for compliance reasons or because moving them to the cloud is not viable.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your in-house staff

To guarantee that your team can make the most of your new cloud platform after migration, identify the areas in which your employees need to be upskilled so that you can accommodate this in your migration schedule. It's likely that your team members may need additional training if you want to use a different cloud database.

The present workload of your team should also be evaluated to avoid overscheduling during the migration process, which could lead to delays or failures in internal projects.

Migrate your data with the correct tools

Database migration is made easier for new clients by a variety of solutions. ETL tools such as Alooma, which automates the arduous operation of transforming and standardizing data, are recommended by Google Cloud Platform (GCP). While transporting data to the destination database, Alooma eliminates Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and identifies mistakes. Always consider your team's abilities and needs as well as your specific use case when comparing migration technologies.

Establish a proof-of-concept environment

Proof of concept helps you work through the problems and risks you discovered when examining your data environment, uncovers issues you didn't know about, and gives you the confidence that your migration will go well. Do not develop a "test" app; instead, utilize one that is relevant to the purpose of testing the cloud's capabilities. However, don't choose a challenging use case or one that has a lot of security and compliance difficulties involved.

Reclassify your data if necessary after you've gone over it

Before migrating any data, your company must conduct a thorough evaluation of all data and, if necessary, reclassify it. Thus, existing security and compliance controls are preserved, as are any legal requirements for retaining some documents on-premises (on-premises storage). Several departments, including compliance and legal, will be involved in the evaluation and reclassification process. You'll need to revise your IT governance policies to reflect the new information after it's all done.

Make a thorough clean-up of your data

Migrating to the cloud is a terrific opportunity to improve the quality and utility of your corporate data by avoiding the transfer of old, duplicate, incomplete, or corrupted information. data. If the data isn't going to be cleaned again for some time following the transfer, it's critical to make sure you're migrating just accurate data. Automated ETL systems like Alooma ensure accuracy and save countless hours by automating arduous data purification tasks.

Your database schema should be rebuilt

In order to get your new database to operate with the old one, you'll need to change the structure of your present data. Creating tables and writing scripts for functions like stored procedures and database triggers will be part of this process.

Your data must be migrated, validated, and repaired

The initial data load may take days, depending on the size of your database. Data will be converted, normalized, and error-checked during this step. Once the data has been loaded, it must be double-checked for accuracy, validity, and completeness. Before moving the database, any issues must be resolved.

Transfer your access rights and security configurations

Cybersecurity is too often neglected during cloud migration, as indicated by the rising number of breaches caused by faulty settings. Enterprise databases and their contents are under your company's purview even though your cloud provider is responsible for the cloud's security. It is critical that you replicate all the on-premises privileges and security settings onto your new cloud implementation.

The process of migrating to the cloud is more like a marathon than a sprint. According to the size and complexity of your firm, the complete procedure can take anywhere from months to perhaps many years. Getting your databases migrated as quickly, safely, and properly as possible is critical, as is keeping your business and customers as unaffected as possible.