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How Does an Azure Migration Work?

Assess, plan, pilot, migrate, optimize. What moves as-is and what gets rebuilt.

An Azure migration moves servers, applications and data from on-premises hardware into Microsoft Azure in five phases: assess, plan, pilot, migrate and optimize. Done well, users notice faster systems and little else. Done badly, it is a weekend of downtime and a surprising bill.

1. Assess

Inventory every server, application, database and integration. Note dependencies (which app talks to which database), performance requirements, licensing, and anything tied to physical hardware. Decide what is a candidate for Azure, what should move to Microsoft 365 or SharePoint instead, and what should be retired.

2. Plan

For each workload choose a strategy:

  • Lift and shift (rehost). Move the server as-is to an Azure virtual machine. Fastest, least risky, least optimized.
  • Replatform. Move a database to Azure SQL or a file server to Azure Files rather than running a VM.
  • Replace. Retire the server in favor of a SaaS product or a Microsoft 365 workload.
  • Retain. Leave it on-premises for now, connected by VPN or ExpressRoute.

Design the Azure landing zone: subscriptions, networking, identity, backup, monitoring and cost controls, before anything moves.

3. Pilot

Migrate one low-risk workload, test it with real users, measure performance and cost, and fix the process.

4. Migrate

Move workloads in waves using Azure Migrate or replication tools, with cutovers scheduled for low-impact windows and a rollback plan for each. Identity and networking go first; the application that everyone uses goes last, after everything it depends on.

5. Optimize

Right-size VMs, apply reserved pricing, schedule non-production systems to shut down after hours, tighten security, and decommission the old hardware.

A checklist of things people miss

Licensing rights (Azure Hybrid Benefit), internet bandwidth at the office, backup of the new environment from day one, MFA on the Azure portal, printing and scanning paths, and old IP addresses hard-coded into applications.

Mentis Group runs Azure migrations as scoped IT Project Services engagements through our Azure support and consulting practice, then operates the environment under Managed Cloud Services. See what is cloud migration for the broader categories and what Azure is used for to decide what belongs there.

Have a question about your own environment? Schedule a consultation with Mentis Group or call (866) 901-7808.