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ArticlesMany companies still depend on legacy applications for critical business functions. However, these applications often operate on outdated hardware that is no longer supported by the manufacturer.
The lack of easily obtained replacement parts increases the downtime and decreases the stability of these systems.
Additionally, obsolete and unsupported operating systems mean no new security patches are available, heightening the risk of breaches.
Together, these issues can transform a crucial operational system into a liability that harms a company.
Moving these applications to cloud platforms like Google (by using virtual machines) lets them run more reliably than before. This change helps shift from a traditional data center to a cloud setup, offering proven benefits.
This article will provide a step-by-step migration plan with best practices, along with insights from a real project.
According to the Deloitte US Future of Cloud Survey Report, a substantial majority of participants in surveys vouched for cloud, citing various benefits:
Legacy applications remain the backbone for many organizations. However, they operate on outdated infrastructure that is costly and risky to maintain. This has prompted CIOs and CTOs to seek scalable alternatives, with Google Cloud emerging as a top-tier choice.
Here are the key benefits businesses can gain by moving their legacy applications to Google Cloud:
Moving legacy workloads from an on-premises data center to Google Cloud involves important decisions. If not done correctly, the project may not achieve desired results, leading to issues like higher costs, tight schedules, and unexpected challenges with old IT systems.
Before taking any action, it’s crucial to evaluate your current infrastructure. Thoroughly check the following:
Once these steps are done, create a detailed inventory of current applications.
Furthermore, take time to observe how the application behaves in different situations. Then, record all interactions with external systems, no matter how minor they may appear.
In simple terms, this stage focuses on establishing a value proposition for both the business and IT.
Every business has different requirements. What worked for others might not work for you. So, how do you choose the right strategy that aligns with your business objectives?
If your business relies on legacy applications for handling mission-critical workloads and you don’t want to change, you might be facing rising costs with your on-premise infrastructure. In this case, lift and shift or hardware emulation can be the ideal choice.
Insights from Gartner support this perspective. It highlights that lift and shift is often the most cost-effective and least effort-intensive strategy available.
In addition to lift and shift (emulation), here are some popular strategies you can consider based on your requirements:
This strategy focuses on completely replacing the legacy system with a new solution that better meets modern needs. It is suitable for businesses seeking a fresh start.
Move the legacy application to a new platform. While functionality remains intact, replatforming enables smoother integrations with updated environments.
Optimize the internal code of the legacy system without fully rebuilding it. It can make your system faster and more responsive without losing its original purpose.
Reconstruct the application from scratch to align with today’s standards, capabilities, and requirements.
Move to an entirely new application architecture. This approach can provide scalability and flexibility.
Still confused?
Here is the thing: any strategy involving code changes can be costly, risky, and time-consuming. In contrast, a zero-code migration alternative such as emulation is cost-efficient, quick, and ensures business continuity.
Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions, and then select the most appropriate strategy:
Preparing for the migration of legacy systems to Google Cloud is essential. Without proper preparation, businesses risk losing control of the process.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. Hire a team of experts with experience in similar migration projects for other organizations.
2. Identify which workloads should be prioritized for migration and create a sequence for those groups.
3. Make sure to document all your dependencies, including features specific to the database, stored procedures, and any compatibility issues related to data types.
4. The best way to assess your migration plan’s effectiveness is to carry out a pilot migration. Before making any changes, ensure you fully understand your methods. Testing with a pilot migration will help confirm your strategies.
Pro tip: It is best to conduct the pilot migration in an environment that closely resembles your actual migration conditions. So, you can start with non-critical components to test your approach and identify potential issues beforehand.
Most organizations rush into migration execution without strategic phasing. But that approach leads to costly operational disruptions.
Smart IT leaders deploy phased migration strategies that minimize business risk. Each phase validates success before advancing to the next critical component.
Performance optimization demands dedicated time allocation. Data integrity verification cannot be rushed or shortcut.
Additionally, troubleshooting complex legacy systems requires patience and systematic approaches. Skip these steps, and you’ll spend months fixing preventable problems.
After migrating legacy applications to Google Cloud, continuous monitoring and optimization are necessary. This is why, at the planning stage, it is advisable to set KPIs that help you make data-driven decisions.
When moving old applications to the cloud, network delays can be a big challenge. Parts that used to work well in a data center might face slowdowns in the cloud. To reduce these problems, teams often need to use caching, adjust timeouts, and change how they communicate.
Scaling resources is an important factor to consider. Cloud platforms can adjust resources easily, but older applications may struggle with these changes. It’s essential to test the application thoroughly to ensure it works as expected during different scaling situations.
Migrating legacy systems to Google cloud becomes even easier if you follow these best practices:
Even seemingly minor problems can escalate into massive disasters if not addressed promptly. During any migration plan, it’s common to encounter unexpected roadblocks. Address them immediately.
Moving everything simultaneously creates uncontrollable variables. Data loss multiplies with complexity.
Focused training helps to flatten learning curves, ensuring a smoother transition and better overall performance.
Software components depend on each other. If you miss one connection, watch everything fall.
Dependency mapping reveals hidden system structures. You’ll discover hybrid integration needs before they become crisis points.
Finding critical issues late can cost millions in emergency repairs and downtime.
Continuous testing catches problems while they remain completely fixable. Rush your expansion timeline, and you’ll crash your entire migration.
UNITEC, a leading educational institution, aimed to migrate its Solaris workloads to Google Cloud to close its legacy data center.
The main challenge was figuring out how to run business-critical Solaris applications, originally designed for SPARC servers, in a cloud environment.
To address this issue, the Google team recommended the use of Stromasys’s SPARC emulator, Charon-SSP, which effectively replicates the necessary environment on Google Cloud.
As highlighted in Google’s article about Stromasys:
“The Google team recommended Google Cloud Technology Partner Stromasys and its elegant solution, Charon-SSP, which emulates legacy SPARC systems.”
Stromasys used its engineered Charon-SSP to emulate original SPARC hardware, creating a similar environment for legacy applications to run in the cloud. No changes were made to the vital Solaris operating systems or applications, and no rewriting, replatforming, or recertifying was involved. Everything was up and running in just 24 days.
Want similar results? A team of experts with experience in similar projects can make a real difference.
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