Migrating to Cloud with the ‘Lift and Shift’ Approach

If there is one thing digital transformation requires, it is speed. Businesses need to be able to migrate their applications to the cloud quickly to leverage the latest technologies without disrupting their existing operations. While there are several approaches to make the shift to the cloud, the lift and shift model is fairly common, especially in cases where speed and agility are deciding factors.  

What is lift and shift?  

Lift and Shift is faster than the other methods since it requires very little change to the application code. Also referred to as rehosting, lift and shift requires an application or workload’s exact copy along with its data store and OS to be transferred from one environment to another—typically from an on-prem system to the public or private cloud. 

It is a very simple model that does not need the restructuring of files and folders or rearranging of user account hierarchies. Since there is not much change to the code, the lift and shift strategy requires less effort and is, therefore, more cost-effective and needs fewer resources in terms of people.  

The investment can change from a capital expenditure (CapEx) to an operational expense (OpEx) even as the business can benefit from the cloud’s computing power, storage, and networking infrastructure, which are extensible, scalable and economical.  

The scenario suited to the Lift and Shift Model  

Initially, lift and shift migration was used only in the case of complex and tightly coupled on-premise applications. However, with the evolution of modern cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, it has become possible to migrate applications ‘as-is’ since they can leverage the cloud environment more effectively.  

Merit’s software infrastructure expert says, “The approach of lift and shift is especially favored to migrate cloud-ready workloads such as containerised applications and apps developed on microservices architecture. It is also considered the first step when a monolithic application is rearchitected for the cloud.”  

Some of the factors that support the use of the lift and shift approach include: 

• Reducing capital investment in IT infrastructure such as hardware and virtual machines (VMs) 
• Performance challenges due to technical debt 
• High risk in terms of disaster recovery  
• Unstable mission-critical workloads 

• When optimisation is not possible or difficult in on-prem systems 

The use cases of lift and shift include: 

Third-Party Apps: Third-party applications cannot be altered, recoded or altered; Therefore these need to be lifted and shifted as-is.  

Legacy Applications: Sometimes, refactoring or re-platforming a legacy app is not possible. But, they may perform just as effectively when rehosted on the cloud without any changes. 

Back-ups: On-premise backup and recovery resources can be lifted and shifted to the cloud to take advantage of its scalability and cost efficiency. Refactoring or re-platforming may impact the content of the backups and therefore needs to be migrated as-is. 

Mission-Critical Applications:  Core apps hosted on virtual machines (VMs) in the on-premise environment can be migrated to the cloud VM, which may be more efficient than creating one from scratch. 

Startups: Start-ups and early-stage companies who adopt the cloud will find lifting and shifting simpler for their initial migration. 

For Sensitive Workloads: Businesses with sensitive workloads running on on-premise infrastructure are well-suited for a lift and shift approach.  

While lifting and shifting is a good strategy, it should not be used indiscriminately and definitely not due to factors such as hesitation to change or lack of sources. Also, outdated processes should not be lifted and shifted as this can render the whole process of moving to the cloud useless. 

Key Benefits of Lift and Shift Cloud Migration Strategy 

By lifting and shifting apps to the cloud, businesses experience the following benefits: 

Cost-effectiveness: Refactoring, re-platforming, etc. need time and effort, while lift-and-shift is faster and more efficient. This also is the least disruptive as the apps can continue running on-premises till the cloud-based version is ready. 

Improved Performance: By lifting and shifting apps from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud, the organization can provide improved service without investing in the new infrastructure as a CapEx.  

Additional Capacity: By migrating to the cloud, the business gets extra storage, computing power, and network bandwidth and can consolidate on-premise data center infrastructure and costs. 

Hybrid Cloud: While certain applications can be lifted and shifted to the cloud, other applications can continue to be hosted on-premises. With the right governance and infrastructure management tools in place, it becomes easier to manage, monitor and govern various applications with varied underlying infrastructure.  

Factors to Consider before a ‘Lift and Shift’ 

Even if your legacy build falls under the right use case and the benefits work to a business’s advantage, there are still factors you must consider before electing a lift and shift as the ideal cloud migration methodology.  

Application lifespan  

When an organisation plans to lift and shift its workloads and applications, it must consider the lifespan of the application and whether it is due for retirement. If it is expected to not serve beyond a year, then migrating as-is will not make sense. 

API compatability 

Another factor to consider is whether the current API tools will function efficiently on the cloud or encounter bottlenecks. Therefore, assessing the applications for their suitability to be migrated to the cloud and prioritizing based on criticality is important. They should also meet all compliance requirements. If automating migrations is possible, use such tools for speed and efficiency. 

Merit’s Expertise in Cloud Migration Efforts 

Merit works with a broad range of clients and industry sectors, designing and building bespoke applications and data platforms combining software engineering, AI/ML, and data analytics. 

We migrate legacy systems with re-architecture and by refactoring them to contemporary technologies on modern cloud ecosystems. Our software engineers build resilient and scalable solutions with cloud services ranging from simple internal software systems to large-scale enterprise applications. 

Our agile approach drives every stage of the customer journey; from planning to design development and implementation, delivering impactful and cost-effective digital transformations. 

To know more, visit: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/service/code/digital-engineering-solutions/