Businesses today face myriad challenges in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, from complexity and soaring costs to vendor lock-in and competition from cloud providers. The recent acquisition of a major VM provider has heightened these concerns, leading to uncertainty around product strategies, support, and licensing. Forrester Research predicts a significant shift away from current VM solutions, prompting CIOs and IT decision-makers to reassess their infrastructure strategies.
Leaders are exploring various options, from sticking with their current provider to migrating to the public cloud or embracing alternative solutions like Nutanix, Microsoft, Red Hat and Oracle. Choosing a new VM provider requires careful evaluation and understanding of digital age demands, as it will significantly impact an organization’s competitiveness and long-term viability.
It’s important for customers considering the arduous task of selecting a new VM provider to consider their migration strategy. A migration done wrong—that is, without proper discovery and planning can result in big problems, including system outages, low IT staff productivity and runaway project costs. These outcomes can impact the entire organization but also damage the reputations of the IT executives leading the migration.
Unfortunately, such cautionary tales are all too common. Take, for example, a large manufacturer that aimed to consolidate its two data centers into one. To map its software applications, the company relied on hundreds of spreadsheets—each dedicated to a specific application, alongside summary spreadsheets and one overarching master spreadsheet. However, maintaining control over the various versions proved challenging, and some staff inadvertently overwrote critical information on the summary sheets while updating multiple spreadsheets. The ensuing chaos was so immense that the company was forced to restart the entire migration process.
Magnitude of tasks.
Migrations can go wrong for many reasons. One common problem is that organizations don’t realize how big the job is. Some IT managers mistakenly perceive a VM migration as merely another routine IT project, believing they can manage it alongside their regular responsibilities. Meanwhile, others underestimate the extent to which migration challenges can impede business operations.
Having an accurate inventory.
Another frequent issue is that organizations don’t have a clear idea of all their IT infrastructure and application data. For instance, leaders at a big insurance company thought they had 1,500 applications, but an audit showed they had 3,000. Even if IT departments suspect they’re missing some information about their tech inventory, they often don’t realize just how much they’re missing. Underestimating the size of a migration is common.
Multiple CMDBs.
Another problem arises when many large organizations manage multiple CMDBs or asset databases. This can lead to inaccurate, incomplete, conflicting, and outdated asset data. Without a clear view of the IT inventory, there can be what are called “remnants”—devices that nobody claims or understands, but the organization has acquired and licensed. One of our customers found 500 remnants. Even though no one was using these devices, they were all powered on and draining company resources.
Lacking core competencies.
Yet another hurdle is the lack of skills and experience within organizations to handle a large VM migration effectively. Such migrations are far more complex than standard IT projects. They demand coordination across different business units without disrupting ongoing operations.
To successfully migrate to a new VM or Cloud provider, you need to start with lock-tight discovery and then develop a reliable plan. Discovery is crucial as it allows you to grasp the entirety of your IT inventory, including migration specific details often overlooked in day-to-day operations. This process should not solely focus on servers and physical devices but also on understanding applications and their interconnections. It’s essential to comprehend and group interdependent applications to minimize business disruptions during migration.
Once discovery is finished, it’s time to formulate a plan. With a comprehensive view of your IT environment, you can determine which systems to migrate first based on their shared dependencies. Rather than thinking in terms of moving individual systems, focus on moving groups.
Different applications will require varying levels of attention. Some may be independent and relatively straightforward to migrate, while others will be intricately interconnected, demanding thorough consideration and planning. For instance, two applications might share a database, utilize a common server for storage, or depend on the same disaster recovery process. Moving one application may unavoidably disrupt the other. Multiply this complexity across hundreds or thousands of systems, and you’ll understand why meticulous planning is indispensable for a successful migration.
In summary, for a seamless VM migration, you should:
Provides insight and unravels complexity.
TransitionManager provides insight into your environment, unravels complexity, automates the coordination of complex workstreams, and then helps you execute without risk. TransitionManager puts you in the driver’s seat so that you can innovate quickly, while assuring that your recovery and compliance targets are achieved.
TransitionManager can help whether you’re accelerating your migration to a data center, modernizing applications and databases, or migrating your VM environment.
Integrate your people, processes and tools.
TransitionManager fully integrates your people, processes, and tools into a common platform to manage migrations and ongoing transformation.
Learn about Services from TDS
TDS offers comprehensive solutions for your migration and transformation requirements. Whether you’re transitioning to a new VM platform, embracing cloud adoption, migrating data centers, modernizing applications, or updating your database footprint, TDS with TransitionManager is the singular platform that helps you master complex changes within your environment.
Seamlessly coordinating across your entire workforce and toolchain, TransitionManager empowers you to efficiently visualize, strategize, and meticulously orchestrate transformation programs at scale