View Recording: Future-Ready IT: Modernization with Microsoft Azure

Joe Steiner Hello everyone. Hope everybody’s having a good Thursday. My name is Joe Steiner, the Solutions Architect here at Concurrency, and today we’re going to be talking about how do we modernize. 0:0:22.123 –> 0:0:38.163 Joe Steiner Our workloads with Microsoft Azure, really where we’re taking the focus of is kind of a bird’s eye view in some ways and diving in a little bit further into how we might migrate workloads to Azure. 0:0:38.843 –> 0:0:58.3 Joe Steiner Whether we have a scenario that we have something on premise we want to to move up there or we have something in another cloud and and this could be we’ve got to move it because a we’re switching cloud providers B we’ve had a. 0:0:58.763 –> 0:1:15.523 Joe Steiner Larger organizational change event, mergers, acquisitions, divestiture. This needs to switch clouds there. All of them, you know, kind of end up having found the same frameworks if you will and so. 0:1:16.163 –> 0:1:34.403 Joe Steiner We’re going to be talking today about those kind of core frameworks. Some of these will be probably old hat for some of you, but we want to make sure it covers for everybody. Then hopefully there’s some good content for everybody as we get into the thick of of migrating workloads into. 0:1:34.883 –> 0:1:50.803 Joe Steiner Into the cloud. So without any further ado, let’s get into the first kind of core framework underlying all this is Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework. If you are newer to Azure, this is a great place to start. 0:1:51.563 –> 0:2:11.323 Joe Steiner As it provides kind of just you know step but wise guidance into how to kind of plan your cloud journey and even as you get going at how to continually kind of review your cloud operations and make sure that you’re continually. 0:2:11.443 –> 0:2:25.923 Joe Steiner Improving upon those, the first four steps there from strategy to plan to ready to adopt really about kind of entering and putting workloads in the cloud for the first time, whereas the govern, secure and manage. 0:2:26.683 –> 0:2:44.843 Joe Steiner Sections of the Cloud Adoption Framework are intended to be ongoing, recurring. You’re cycling through those, continually reviewing your environment, continuing to improve upon what you’re doing up there and moving further along in your maturity model. 0:2:44.843 –> 0:3:3.563 Joe Steiner Which we’ll we’ll talk about a little later. Underlying this and this will be something else we’ll talk about in a little bit is the well architected framework. And so as we get into moving stuff actually into the cloud and kind of refining what we’re we’re doing up in the cloud. 0:3:4.43 –> 0:3:18.603 Joe Steiner The well architected framework’s a great place to start. I highlight this for everyone here because frequently Microsoft has funding programs available and if you’re going to take advantage of those. 0:3:19.163 –> 0:3:34.363 Joe Steiner Generally they they want to make sure that you’re following at some levels the cloud adoption framework and or a well architected framework process or approach towards the market. So it’s it’s good even for experienced. 0:3:35.43 –> 0:3:51.43 Joe Steiner Azure rights I guess to be able to to understand what these models are are are asking for and recommending and being able to leverage those as as you go. 0:3:51.323 –> 0:4:0.203 Joe Steiner Amy, if you’re on, I I apologize, but I’m not sure if we’ve got a question in the chat. If we do, if you don’t mind monitoring, just letting me know. 0:3:59.523 –> 0:4:3.323 Amy Cousland Will do. No questions at this time, but I’ll let you know if we get one. 0:4:1.203 –> 0:4:19.523 Joe Steiner Thank you. OK, great. Perfect. So as we’re you know one of the first steps in in moving into Azure and again for those of you that have already migrated Azure are familiar with this, you probably already solved this, but it is something worth reviewing even over time. 0:4:20.43 –> 0:4:38.763 Joe Steiner And that is kind of thinking about the people side of this and what is going to be your cloud operating model, generally meaning what groups are going to manage what inside of Azure. We’ll talk a lot today about the concept of having kind of platform services. 0:4:39.763 –> 0:4:54.363 Joe Steiner Core shared services that any workloads that we have in Azure will utilize and then beyond that having more workload specific services and environments landing zones as we as we get into that. 0:4:55.43 –> 0:5:13.723 Joe Steiner And really there’s there’s kind of three general models for how you might have your people aligned to managing the services within there. First one is centralized model where we have one cloud team, they control everything end to end. 0:5:14.843 –> 0:5:33.203 Joe Steiner They manage it all, which is great. You have a lot of control in that environment. You’re very easy to implement standards in that kind of world. However, as you scale up and in terms of what you’re doing in Azure, sometimes that can be a little bit of a hindrance. 0:5:33.483 –> 0:5:48.803 Joe Steiner As you might need some more specialties in in different areas and or just with the volume of work inside of there too on shared management we found has been a pretty good. 0:5:49.3 –> 0:6:4.83 Joe Steiner Middle ground there where I will have platform teams, maybe product owners of certain aspects of Azure handling and managing those aspects that could be in the platform landing zone. I might have things like. 0:6:4.563 –> 0:6:23.883 Joe Steiner You know, kind of a core identity structure inside of their various, you know, kind of centralized networking core services, maybe some of the security core security services. Again, security will be something that gets embedded everywhere. 0:6:25.123 –> 0:6:43.483 Joe Steiner Networking will have its place everywhere, but there might be some central, more centralized core services there that get handled. You may even have, you know, kind of more centralized data structures inside of your environment. That might be something. So you can have teams that that either specialize in those or having a platform team across those. 0:6:43.963 –> 0:7:2.323 Joe Steiner They manage that kind of core central shared services and then have workload teams. These could be teams that are more aligned with certain business units that own certain workloads or aligned with certain technologies contained therein and that that that platform team is responsible for the platform and the shared services. 0:7:2.603 –> 0:7:17.883 Joe Steiner But also then really for general Azure governance, we found that’s a pretty good model there where they kind of lead the way in governance and provide those guardrails that then the workload teams can operate in. What it does is allows for the platform set up and it has all the needs of the workload teams. 0:7:18.283 –> 0:7:34.83 Joe Steiner That’s just ongoing and you know, improving what you have in terms of those core central services. But then the workload teams are able to very quickly spin things up within the guardrails that are that they’re allowed to operate in and allows for kind of a good mix of standards. 0:7:35.3 –> 0:7:51.883 Joe Steiner And agility when you when you use that kind of model decentralized, you can have each team own their own environment and you know it becomes a little bit of the Wild West out there sometimes. But some organizations that’s the best way to operate. It really depends on the nature of your organization there too. 0:7:52.363 –> 0:8:11.643 Joe Steiner We’ll have some companies that are kind of a mix of, you know, smaller companies that have come together. Decentralized may have just kind of happened naturally and maybe over time it might evolve to more shared management, but maybe not. They may if they continue to operate independently, each one operates their own. 0:8:12.83 –> 0:8:27.603 Joe Steiner Environments, and that’s what’s best for that organization. There’s nothing wrong with these. It’s really whatever’s right for you and your organization there. Across there, each team can have its own environment. It allows them to have autonomy and control of their own environment end to end. 0:8:27.803 –> 0:8:45.283 Joe Steiner But you have less standardization when you look across all of those. And so it really becomes a function of what does, what does the organization want. And you know that’s it’s usually important to align with kind of broader organization trends. Are we trying to consolidate services more within? 0:8:45.563 –> 0:9:1.243 Joe Steiner These disparate business units and maybe you know entities acquired overtime or are they going to be separated because there may be some changes to that even. And so rather than having to unhook all that, you may just leave those and run independently so. 0:9:1.723 –> 0:9:21.323 Joe Steiner Just a lot of things to consider here. Very important that you have some sense of, hey, this is how we want to operate because then you can drive everything else, management, security, operations, everything we’re going to talk about today towards your your operating model and that that will dictate. 0:9:21.723 –> 0:9:40.843 Joe Steiner How things go from there. Another important concept, again, kind of very core. A lot of you have likely seen this before is the shared responsibility model. As you’re considering your cloud operating model, it’s good to keep this in mind and really what this is illustrating is. 0:9:41.843 –> 0:10:0.163 Joe Steiner Between whether you’re running software as a service, platform as a service, or infrastructure as a service, who has responsibility for managing the different aspects therein, whether that’s the customer, whether that’s something that Microsoft has then taken on because it’s. 0:10:0.483 –> 0:10:17.843 Joe Steiner Running this as a software as a service offering or as a platform as a service offering, there are aspects of that that will run which wouldn’t be the case if you’re loading thing as infrastructure as a service. It’s important for the cloud operating model because OK, what are we going to be asking people to do and to manage and. 0:10:18.163 –> 0:10:35.803 Joe Steiner How much are we putting on their plate, having those kind of considerations? It’s also important, though, when you’re considering architectures later on and what you’re going to migrate to and what’s going to be the ultimate total cost of ownership for different architectural decisions that happen. 0:10:37.363 –> 0:10:51.803 Joe Steiner Because if I’m able to use platform as a service, it may cost a little more, but I may save enough and not having to manage certain aspects and how that runs to offset that and that’s really the. 0:10:51.883 –> 0:11:9.3 Joe Steiner The economic decision that needs to occur with with all this. So it’s an important thing to keep in mind as you’re making, you know, personnel decisions, operating model decisions as well as then architectural decisions later on. So that’s why we we bring it here. 0:11:9.563 –> 0:11:25.923 Joe Steiner You know, in all cases information data is information is your own devices, constant identity. But then you you know backing into if I’m using you know things like SQL platform as a service. 0:11:26.363 –> 0:11:45.43 Joe Steiner I’m not worried about the operating system underneath there. Certain aspects of the kind of core infrastructure are just managed for me versus me running a SQL Server instance in the cloud in a VM myself, which would be more of an infrastructure as a service. 0:11:45.483 –> 0:12:2.643 Joe Steiner Situation. So just kind of you know to illustrate some of the differences they’re in and where you want to factor factor that into your decision making. So away from kind of the foundational things if we look at you know your general migration phases. 0:12:3.163 –> 0:12:22.3 Joe Steiner You’ll have a kind of discovery decision framework at the at the front end, then you’re planning and then you’re really the execution at the end. There’s a tool offered for free from Microsoft which can help in a lot of cases. 0:12:22.643 –> 0:12:38.603 Joe Steiner Highly recommended and that’s Azure Migrate. You can use that at the front end to inventory existing workloads. If those are on premise, can take an inventory of that, examine the software, examine. 0:12:39.363 –> 0:12:56.603 Joe Steiner You know different aspects of that workload and then can compare that to. Here’s what that would look like in the cloud and even help you migrate it as you get into the execution phase. It also can be used in other cloud services, so if you have. 0:12:58.123 –> 0:13:12.683 Joe Steiner Business unit that might be hosted in Amazon in a infrastructure as a service offering today. It could be analyzed using Azure Migrate as well and then you know look at OK, what’s the? 0:13:13.43 –> 0:13:28.523 Joe Steiner Underlying you know components of this, how do those translate to Azure and even again help with the migration. Some of the platform as a service offerings that ultimately you’ll use those native tools within the AWS or Google, but. 0:13:30.3 –> 0:13:46.723 Joe Steiner Azure Migrate can help with infrastructure as a service offerings in other clouds as well as then your on premise infrastructure that you might be be migrating that way. Very very useful, provides a lot of information and then again can be. 0:13:46.923 –> 0:14:0.483 Joe Steiner Used as the actual migration tool therein. So a great end to end tool for that for that. So again, you start with the inventory, the environment. We’ll kind of talk about the different things to do along these phases here. 0:14:2.203 –> 0:14:4.123 Joe Steiner You kind of assess. 0:14:5.83 –> 0:14:24.323 Joe Steiner Make sure that you’re this translates to Azure and how you want to translate it to Azure. Frequently there’s multiple choices. There’s almost always multiple choices as to how you might do it. The other thing to make sure you’re picking out at the front end is what are all the dependencies of of that application? What else is it tied to? 0:14:26.323 –> 0:14:44.483 Joe Steiner Could be simple things like maybe not always so simple to to move, but an underlying database structure that sits behind the application. It might have ties to other other applications as well. You’ll have to plan into there. How do I want to handle that? Is that? 0:14:44.723 –> 0:15:0.123 Joe Steiner Is going to be moved in the split migration fashion? Is that something that we’re going to move together? Maybe we start bringing all of those applications and migrating those at the same time because of that. That will impact decisions quite a bit when you’re looking at dependencies there. 0:15:1.83 –> 0:15:17.643 Joe Steiner You also look at you know what outside systems are. Is this connected to? Is it dependent on or dependent on it? If you move this, are you going to able to maintain those dependencies? Do you need to maintain those dependencies? 0:15:18.403 –> 0:15:31.243 Joe Steiner And that kind of thing. We’ll talk a little bit further about that. Then that all goes into, OK, how am I going to migrate? And there’s a host of options there. There’s kind of a range that we’re going to talk about. 0:15:32.523 –> 0:15:49.603 Joe Steiner In terms of, you know, do I, is this something worth migrating or and and or how do I migrate it? Do am I going to make major changes to it? Am I just going to move it more as is? Those kind of things and again having all that information from your initial inventory. 0:15:50.283 –> 0:16:9.803 Joe Steiner And your dependency analysis is going to drive those decisions as you as you go to to migrate those those environments. From there then you you make your determination and then it’s about OK, what are the how, what are we building out here and we’ll talk a little bit about. 0:16:10.3 –> 0:16:16.323 Joe Steiner Ending zones and and how do you structure those the right way for these different scenarios? 0:16:17.483 –> 0:16:32.203 Joe Steiner You know, assessing the workload, core things you want to pull in are CPU and memory usage, **** IO, disk IO, network throughput, user load inside of there. 0:16:32.923 –> 0:16:48.283 Joe Steiner All those kind of core metrics within the application itself that are driving what that next architectural decisions will be in terms of the services. 0:16:49.643 –> 0:17:5.323 Joe Steiner How many, how much CPU and memory do I need in the service? When I’m selecting a service, there’s going to be different options in terms of the service level that I will need to invoke and I need this information at the front end. 0:17:5.803 –> 0:17:23.643 Joe Steiner You need to know this both for kind of peak times as well as what is the ongoing average there and that’ll that’ll help guide those architectural decisions later. You need to understand the configuration details. Is this, you know, host and on premise, you know in in hardware? Is this in a VM? 0:17:24.323 –> 0:17:41.83 Joe Steiner What VM structure is used there? OS, other software involved, so on. You know they the coding in there. It’s good to know what coding language and framework is being used. 0:17:41.83 –> 0:17:57.603 Joe Steiner As we’ll we’ll talk about in a little bit, but all these things need to come in into into place there from security, identity configurations, encryption very important and then the broader network and security configuration of the application. 0:17:58.243 –> 0:18:14.443 Joe Steiner These all may be things that are one way today and need to be changed or should be changed as you move forward. But it’s good to know where you’re starting from because as you translate this and migrate this into the cloud, you need to make sure that you’ve got a. 0:18:14.523 –> 0:18:33.3 Joe Steiner A good plan for what those impacts are going to be. So you don’t have surprises. You know, compatibility issues. Azure Migrate will actually help with that, and that becomes a hey, you’re using this version of of software. Here’s how this might. 0:18:33.403 –> 0:18:52.803 Joe Steiner Or this, you know, service. Here’s how that’s going to translate and you might have issues with this or that. Very, very useful to be able to call those out ahead of time so you can plan that as you’re architecting the solution and it’ll help frame what decisions you use in terms of the migration strategy. 0:18:52.923 –> 0:19:12.163 Joe Steiner Ultimately, you know and also what are the remediations again from the compatibility issues for anything else that we’ve picked up, what are the required remediations? And these follow the generally two classes is 1 is what do we need to do before we migrate it and pre migrations. 0:19:12.603 –> 0:19:29.603 Joe Steiner As well as then what needs to happen afterwards as a maybe a post migration thing so I can move it as is, but I’m going to have to make some changes to this once I once I’ve moved that that infrastructure or that that application workload up to Azure. 0:19:30.123 –> 0:19:45.443 Joe Steiner Again, mapping dependencies, very important for internal dependencies. These would be things within the workload that will be reconstructing these elements there and that’s when we look at internal, let’s say. 0:19:45.883 –> 0:20:1.683 Joe Steiner Hey, here’s all the pieces that we’re going to be rearchitecting up in the cloud and migrating. What are those those pieces there? And frequently one of the best things to do there is to use some monitoring tools, whether that’s network or application performance monitoring. 0:20:2.123 –> 0:20:17.723 Joe Steiner To check those connections with the workload and study that for a little bit and you can see where the calls are, where there’s traffic between different elements of the of the workload, where it is today, whether that’s another cloud or another cloud instance or on premise. 0:20:18.763 –> 0:20:36.43 Joe Steiner And being able to to look at where it’s what it’s communicating with and understand where some of those dependencies are. Sometimes you will find surprises here where you know we’ve seen where organizations didn’t realize that. 0:20:36.203 –> 0:20:55.43 Joe Steiner A1 application was talking to another service or another component in your infrastructure and it kind of was happening behind the scenes a little more. So applying some monitoring to that can can help identify those those situations. 0:20:55.843 –> 0:21:12.523 Joe Steiner And then external, you really want to check in on any other SaaS platforms, APIs, third party services. You know, if I’ve got something in the cloud already, does it still have some on-premise ties, the data pipelines and data there in external databases that are? 0:21:13.403 –> 0:21:32.123 Joe Steiner Connected through here, authentication services, it’s a whole host of things that you want to make sure that you’re taking into account and that’s both things that might be feeding information into your workload or your application, but also that are receiving information from there and it’s. 0:21:33.203 –> 0:21:52.883 Joe Steiner To understand all that’s involved there, cuz again, that will help with your migration planning and ensuring success as you go forward here. Other requirements, regulatory compliances. It’s important to understand that moving things in the cloud actually can help. 0:21:52.963 –> 0:22:8.403 Joe Steiner Help with that frequently in a lot of ways, but you want to make sure you understand what the regulatory needs are pertaining to the type of application, type of data that’s flowing through there and your industry in particular. 0:22:9.43 –> 0:22:27.3 Joe Steiner Understanding what the performance expectations are in terms of SLAS, RPOS, RTOS, what is, what is that today versus you know, what does that need to be? Is there a change in expectation that’s coming for moving it to the cloud? 0:22:27.963 –> 0:22:44.683 Joe Steiner And how does that need to be factored in? That will be very important as you’re deciding, you know, the redundancy, resiliency options inside of here particularly as well as then performance, the general performance of the application and. 0:22:45.163 –> 0:23:4.3 Joe Steiner Maybe the networking connectivity decisions that are going to be involved as well as the services underlying there. There may be certain services that are better suited giving the performance requirements in in there as well. I also understand you know, do you have production test dev, are you? 0:23:4.523 –> 0:23:23.443 Joe Steiner So we’ve seen 2 levels, we’ve seen three, we’ve seen four and in in terms of the production test dev environments and understanding you know what the expectations within those are and how those are being used. 0:23:24.123 –> 0:23:40.283 Joe Steiner Also, if you have any independent software vendors that are planning on being moved to the cloud, make sure that you understand what their cloud instance, the details of that and a little little further. It’s not always the same as what they maybe had on premise. 0:23:40.643 –> 0:23:59.923 Joe Steiner And so that’s that’s a that’s a good one to make sure you’re keeping an eye on as well in addition to the kind of the core infrastructure pieces, underlying software performance, all that any applications where you’ve coded that yourselves. 0:24:0.403 –> 0:24:16.283 Joe Steiner You want to make sure to understand the frameworks and coding languages used. There’s a host of tools out there that can help with that. Appcat’s one. CAST is another recommended one. Really depends on the language and framework that you’re using as to which tool to use. 0:24:16.723 –> 0:24:33.403 Joe Steiner To analyze the code and then ensure that as you’re moving that over to Azure that you’ve got a good sense of of what what that needs to, how that’s going to translate any changes that maybe need to be made. Again, this will play into migration strategies heavily. 0:24:34.83 –> 0:24:53.923 Joe Steiner The other piece there is that underlying databases. So if I know I have databases combined with this again, is that database working with any other applications? What are the other ramifications for that database in moving to the cloud with it and or am I going to operate more of a split environment where the database stays where it is? 0:24:53.923 –> 0:25:9.923 Joe Steiner I move the front end of the application and I then have to have some connectivity between those two environments. Azure Migrate can help with this. There’s also the Data Migration Assistant if I’m going to be moving. 0:25:10.243 –> 0:25:28.203 Joe Steiner That data there to to help assess those associated databases. So all that information that we’ve collected and on the performance of the application, the requirements, different aspects of the underlying database, the application code. 0:25:28.723 –> 0:25:45.843 Joe Steiner That then comes into OK, what is going to be my migration strategy? And here’s kind of a very simple version of that that Microsoft has as part of the Cloud Adoption Framework in terms of recommendations for how to proceed. 0:25:46.243 –> 0:26:2.43 Joe Steiner So we’ve got an existing workload or monitoring this, whether it’s on-premise or from another cloud. You know, as I’ve looked at this, I’ve gotten collected all my data and then can kind of go through this decision framework to determine what is it that I want to do with this, right? 0:26:2.603 –> 0:26:20.443 Joe Steiner So if it’s, you know, something that this is, you know, low value, redundant, consider does it, should it be retired? Does is there some aspect to the function that can be is performed by another tool? Do I still need this? That’s. 0:26:20.723 –> 0:26:39.283 Joe Steiner That’s one thing to consider as you’re as you’re going through that. Otherwise then, do I need to have just, you know, minimal disruption to this? It it works great as is, and I really maybe don’t have the time to modernize. I don’t have. 0:26:39.763 –> 0:26:58.883 Joe Steiner The necessary skill sets. It may not translate very easily to a modernization, might be more complicated. Maybe you just rehost that. That’s really putting that into moving it as is and moving it into more of an I as. 0:26:59.3 –> 0:27:13.723 Joe Steiner Arrangement where I’ve taken it and just like it is as a VM or it’s on premise infrastructure and I’ve just recreated that and copied that in some ways to the to the cloud and and rehosted that. Again Azure Migrate can can help with that. 0:27:14.323 –> 0:27:32.363 Joe Steiner If I I have the ability to make some changes, here’s where we’ve got kind of a host of different levels of that. And really what you’re deciding here is how much modernization can I undertake with this application given all the parameters that we’ve. 0:27:32.963 –> 0:27:48.443 Joe Steiner We know about it and how far can I can I take that beginning with replatforming? Can I use platform as a service solutions where previously I maybe had a SQL Server created for this application? 0:27:48.963 –> 0:28:5.363 Joe Steiner Can I use the Azure SQL platform and and leverage that for my database needs and then run everything else on there? There’s other platforms in there as well that platform service offerings that I might lever those. 0:28:6.323 –> 0:28:25.163 Joe Steiner And allows me then, like we had said earlier, the cloud operating model, if then that falls under then whoever’s managing the platform, if that’s in a centralized, then that’s the same team. Otherwise it’s going to be different. You want to consider that as well when you’re making these kinds of decisions, what’s the impact to the technology to the. 0:28:25.363 –> 0:28:43.603 Joe Steiner Application to the end user, but also the people managing it to some degree. What’s that gonna be like? So that might be the kind of that next level of modernization that we’re able to undertake at this time if we’re able to proceed further. 0:28:44.83 –> 0:28:59.283 Joe Steiner And I am going to make some I I can make some code changes to this and or need to make code changes to this for other reasons. We knew that this had to be modernized anyways. Well moving it to the cloud’s a good opportunity to do that or. 0:28:59.843 –> 0:29:14.363 Joe Steiner And so then I can make those those changes there just in that in the code. But I’m not really rearchitecting the solution, I may be just modernizing the code a little bit. I’m still using the the same framework generally. 0:29:14.523 –> 0:29:31.43 Joe Steiner Using the the same framework generally, but maybe maybe make some changes there. Well then that’s more of a refactor it and then I can optimize it for the cloud as I do that. If I want to take a more drastic step, maybe I’m going to. 0:29:31.123 –> 0:29:49.803 Joe Steiner Undertake you know more you know containers for the for the first time with this application or I’m really re-architecting the underlying infrastructure. That’s where we’re we’re going the the re-architect path where I’m going to really take advantage of that cloud. 0:29:50.603 –> 0:30:6.803 Joe Steiner Take advantage of you know the scaling and resilience options that may be containers. If this application allows itself to be a containerized application that I can move that that way and re-architect the solution that way. 0:30:7.203 –> 0:30:25.123 Joe Steiner You know, if if we’re make changes, one of the things and this may be something you actually consider early in here is, is there a SAS offering that does what this application does that and does that make sense right in terms of cost, in terms of the functionality provided, does that meet the needs? 0:30:25.443 –> 0:30:40.923 Joe Steiner That might be a you might just replace this and I would say that one’s you know generally something a good time to consider this whether we’re retiring or replacing and like we’ll see in the and at the end you know really just should this thing just stay where it is and. 0:30:41.443 –> 0:30:55.763 Joe Steiner We we we solved for this at at another time, but you know that beyond that there’s kind of rebuilding of this. This is really where we’re kind of situation on this could be an older app rather than. 0:30:56.643 –> 0:31:16.83 Joe Steiner Translate it to the cloud in some fashion. I’m going to rebuild something that’s more cloud native and using more micro services and kind of modern application cloud frameworks there and being able to leverage that in the cloud. And this provides that opportunity to say, hey, let’s just rebuild this. 0:31:16.483 –> 0:31:32.683 Joe Steiner If I have the time, if I if that makes sense given my situation here, that’s another option inside of here is you know the rehost, re-platform, refactor, re-architect. I’m really taking the existing application. 0:31:33.203 –> 0:31:51.403 Joe Steiner And either not really making changes or making some some higher levels of changes as I go across those and translating that to the cloud. Beyond that, you know I could retire it, I could replace it, I could just rebuild something, you know, based on that to provide continue to provide those services to the end users. 0:31:51.763 –> 0:32:6.523 Joe Steiner And or I keep it on premise and maybe that’s that this isn’t a good candidate right now and I’m going to focus somewhere else, especially if you’re talking about migrating a number of things in. 0:32:7.123 –> 0:32:25.83 Joe Steiner This might be a hey, I’m going to retain this right now where it is. Let’s move the other workloads that I need 1st and then this might be something that we address at a at a later date. So really all this will include plans and be based on. 0:32:26.883 –> 0:32:42.723 Joe Steiner The dependencies that are involved, all of the assessments that’s done upfront that should really help drive this decision so that you know really one or two of these options becomes pretty clear in the end. It really helps in the decision-making process there. 0:32:42.923 –> 0:32:58.323 Joe Steiner Obviously cost, time, all of those things factor into all of these decisions as well as the skill level of the people involved. You know, here’s where you know partners like Concurrency can come in and help with that. 0:32:58.403 –> 0:33:15.843 Joe Steiner The things that we do quite a bit of, but that’s that’s something to to factor in and concurrency can help you through all of these things. We’ve done this with many customers and so feel free to leverage our. 0:33:16.323 –> 0:33:31.443 Joe Steiner Come to us and we’re happy to work with you and and utilize our expertise in this space. Again, you know, broader migration planning. You know, I’ve talked about the migration strategy. Other things to consider here are. 0:33:32.323 –> 0:33:51.963 Joe Steiner You know what? Again, what are the dependencies and what’s the plan for those? You know, I’ve made my decision to maybe re-host this. OK, there’s a database behind that that’s still connected to something else. Is that temporarily unmovable? And then how am I addressing that I’m re-hosting? 0:33:52.163 –> 0:34:9.723 Joe Steiner Certain aspects of the workload, but there is some dependencies that I need to have connectivity to, and you want to make sure that that’s all considered in here. You know, the kind of planning process really helps you prioritize if I’ve got multiple workloads. 0:34:10.83 –> 0:34:29.523 Joe Steiner That I’m looking to migrate. How do I prioritize which ones happen first? Generally we’d recommend you want to move the simplest ones 1st and then ramp up from there. And usually it’s a mix of kind of the, you know, if I’ve got things. 0:34:29.603 –> 0:34:46.283 Joe Steiner That involve a little lower effort but are higher value. Those are the best places to start and then kind of work down down from there to those that might be a little more effort and still high value to those that are, you know, kind of. 0:34:46.523 –> 0:35:5.83 Joe Steiner Less effort, low, low value in in the end. So you know there’s kind of a prioritization that we can help you with with this as well, but it’s important to prioritize those time those out factor you know that effort into the. 0:35:5.443 –> 0:35:21.83 Joe Steiner The decisions to as to when to move what in addition to all the dependencies and and the other things we’ve talked about, you know really one of the core pieces here is along with the migration strategy, you got to determine your approach. 0:35:21.523 –> 0:35:40.923 Joe Steiner Is this something where I can afford some downtime during a cut over or during the the process or do I need to maintain that near 0? That will dictate sometimes architectural decisions at some levels and or you know generally just kind of the the approach as to. 0:35:41.803 –> 0:35:57.563 Joe Steiner How you’re going to actually execute the migration, but it’s important to understand can we afford to have downtime when moving this and when those windows are versus those things that can’t that they’re operating 24/7. 0:35:58.563 –> 0:36:18.163 Joe Steiner Highly important. OK, we need to make sure that this is replicated, ready to go, and then we can just easily transition from one place to the other. And you want to also in your migration plan have the rollback plan just in case. Always recommend this at and hope you don’t ever need to use it, but it’s better. 0:36:18.483 –> 0:36:25.323 Joe Steiner To have it than not, as anybody that that’s that’s done a project planning would would tell you. 0:36:27.643 –> 0:36:42.963 Joe Steiner You know, in terms of planning the Azure environment then, so we’ve kind of made our architectural decisions or we started to make our migration strategy decisions, beginnings of some of the architectural decisions there. How do I then plan the the Azure environment and? 0:36:42.963 –> 0:36:58.403 Joe Steiner Really one of the first places to start is how am I going to set up my landing zones, landing zones. And this comes into OK, what’s my broader cloud operations model? You know, what are the nature of the workloads and my broader plan for? 0:36:59.643 –> 0:37:15.883 Joe Steiner What’s going to happen inside of Azure? Landing zones provide those kind of the core framework for basic services and generally how you’re going to manage Azure as a whole inside of it, and we’ll talk about that in a in a moment. 0:37:16.323 –> 0:37:31.803 Joe Steiner It’s addition to the landing zone architecture. You get down and showcase specific workload architectures there that are are gonna be leveraged. What does it you know that’ll be dictated frequently by the migration strategy. 0:37:32.323 –> 0:37:48.923 Joe Steiner Is this, you know, going to be an IaaS move? OK, well then I need to recreate what I have already. If I’m re-platforming, re-architecting, that’s going to be a different architecture. And so it’s good to understand what my ideal migration strategy is. 0:37:49.883 –> 0:38:5.3 Joe Steiner And then that’ll that’ll allow you to pick out the appropriate workload architecture. There are a number of generally well tested architectural frameworks already available that have been done by customers before. 0:38:5.643 –> 0:38:25.283 Joe Steiner It’s generally recommended to start there and then make some modifications rather than reinventing the wheel as you’re looking at how to proceed with all this. The next level down will be OK, we’ve got this broader architecture. I need my SQL server. 0:38:25.283 –> 0:38:41.83 Joe Steiner Here I need a web front end, need some security components in there. Here’s where those things would sit in my landing zone architecture. Now OK, what are the specific services in Azure that I’m going to be utilizing? 0:38:41.763 –> 0:38:56.883 Joe Steiner You know, in in certain cases that could be am I using the Paas versus an IaaS approach towards say SQL for instance? Where is that going to sit? Am I which would be dictated maybe by my cloud operations model? 0:38:57.683 –> 0:39:16.803 Joe Steiner And what are or the some of the other you know services that are going to be needed and to support this application in a another layer down from that is OK, what level of service tier do I need for that again this is where the assessments on. 0:39:16.803 –> 0:39:33.163 Joe Steiner The CPU memory utilization, all that you know performance needs of the application that will dictate those service tiers, but then you need to understand what level of using that same assessment information. 0:39:33.203 –> 0:39:47.803 Joe Steiner And what level of availability do I need to support with this application? What level of redundancy do I need within the services? Very important when we’re doing architectural decisions. 0:39:48.243 –> 0:40:3.443 Joe Steiner And and making sure that you are set up, you know, either spread across different regions and this will tie into region decisions. You know, do I need to have this spread across different regions given the nature of the application and what I needed? 0:40:3.763 –> 0:40:18.363 Joe Steiner The availability, how it’s going to be utilized, you know, do I have this, you know, consolidated within certain regions versus others? That’ll be all all things that need to be considered here as you’re establishing your architecture. 0:40:19.163 –> 0:40:38.723 Joe Steiner I highly recommend using the Well Architected Framework as a reference for this. The nice thing with the Well Architected Frameworks we’ll talk in a minute is that it provides general guidance and proven ways to utilize Azure and construct things in Azure that have been tested before and proven. 0:40:38.843 –> 0:40:55.443 Joe Steiner And are supported by Microsoft and that are able to be utilized and then built upon so that you can continue to ramp up the maturity of your environment over time. 0:40:56.603 –> 0:41:15.403 Joe Steiner Kind of quick view of landing zones. I understand this is an eye chart, but it does provide some illustration towards different types of landing zones where I might have platform landing zones where I’ve got inside of there. I’ll have my subscriptions contained, which is kind of a core element within Azure. 0:41:15.923 –> 0:41:35.523 Joe Steiner As many of you likely know, so I’ll have kind of a management subscription in there in the platform, security, some connectivity which handles a lot of my kind of core networking needs. I might have my other data subscriptions inside of that kind of. 0:41:35.923 –> 0:41:54.803 Joe Steiner Core platform data environments inside of there and then within the workloads I’ll have different subscriptions for different workloads. Being able to, you know, allow for each workload to have its own subscription to operate a little independently of others, but utilizing the same core platform services. 0:41:55.443 –> 0:42:10.323 Joe Steiner That that I have with everything else. Again, you know kind of the steps to deploying this is again, use reference architectures, begin there, begin with work that’s done before, and then there’s even off of those. 0:42:10.963 –> 0:42:26.3 Joe Steiner Implementations for how to get to that architecture and build it should be very useful in speeding up your process and operating in a proven manner as you’re as you’re going forward here. 0:42:26.763 –> 0:42:42.363 Joe Steiner Different designers with the within the land landing zones that to be considered as one what’s kind of my billing construct. This will dictate frequently how I construct subscriptions, resource groups. 0:42:43.3 –> 0:42:58.403 Joe Steiner Things like that. What is my resource organization? How am I grouping things within there? What do I need for identity and access management? What’s the nature of the underlying applications? What are the services they’re going to need? 0:42:58.523 –> 0:43:18.323 Joe Steiner Across maybe multiple different workload landing zones that are there, I mean there, what do they need, you know across all those and general network topology, you know talk about you know the different types of network connectivity between Expressroute, VPN and so on. 0:43:18.323 –> 0:43:37.843 Joe Steiner What are you doing as an organization to connect to Azure and how does that then translate to each workload need as I go from there? And then kind of more of the compliance design side, we’ll have kind of that management plane, the security plane, broader governance. 0:43:37.923 –> 0:43:53.643 Joe Steiner Both in terms of ties into security but also gets into cost controls. I might be able to manage the cost of Azure across all of these in an effective manner. 0:43:54.763 –> 0:44:10.923 Joe Steiner And then ultimately, how much am I driving automation through all this in order to make my life easier and to there’s security benefits from automation. There’s a host of benefits from that. So what am I able to do and able to to undertake here and construct? 0:44:11.363 –> 0:44:19.483 Joe Steiner Given the nature of my workloads and maybe my maturity with with Azure, how much automation am I able to to leverage? 0:44:20.723 –> 0:44:20.843 Joe Steiner OK. 0:44:22.363 –> 0:44:41.3 Joe Steiner You know, as I’m preparing for the landing zone, as we talked about a moment ago, connectivity is very important. Well, how am I connecting to Azure? Am I using Expressroute? Am I using VPN? Do I need some kind of Azure Virtual LAN between different areas? For identity, highly recommend using Entre Active Directory. There’s a lot of hosting. 0:44:41.923 –> 0:45:0.563 Joe Steiner Services there that that you’re going to be leveraging and that’s a really important as we get into well architected framework identity is really an important control plane for for that as well architected framework is really driven by zero trust and and that’s those principles are built into that. 0:45:0.803 –> 0:45:19.363 Joe Steiner You have to make decisions on how we’re architecting our DNS structure so that we’re able to provide name resolution across the services. Where is that hosted? How is that connecting to maybe it being hosted outside of this cloud environment or am I running within here? 0:45:19.443 –> 0:45:38.603 Joe Steiner A firewall routing constructs in there to protect the whole environment. You’ll see as you get into the log protected framework, you don’t want to expose any virtual machines to the outside world, so I’ll nest those within firewalls, obviously. 0:45:39.443 –> 0:45:59.43 Joe Steiner And protect that and there’ll be different firewall constructs that I’ll leverage there. And then really what’s going to be my broader monitoring and management approach towards this one of the tools, what is the information that I’m going to need there and what services am I? 0:45:59.123 –> 0:46:18.883 Joe Steiner Using to provide that so that I can maintain and manage the environment appropriately, monitor costs, monitor faults within the environment, handle incidents, all of that. So again, underlying all that is the well architected framework and within there there’s fine. 0:46:19.43 –> 0:46:38.283 Joe Steiner Of primary pillars, reliability is a big one. So how resilient do I need this application to be? Security, cost optimization. Then you get into the operational excellence side of this or? 0:46:38.723 –> 0:46:57.363 Joe Steiner How easy is it to manage this broader environment? How well am I? Am I handling that? And then performance efficiency? You know, have I built this to be at the level that I need it to to provide the the performance and what are some of the improvements that can be made there? 0:46:58.43 –> 0:47:16.3 Joe Steiner This is a ongoing process where I’m continually looking at each of these pillars and ensuring that you know I’m I’m doing the best that I can in managing these environments across these different. 0:47:16.83 –> 0:47:35.443 Joe Steiner Pillars is a lot of guides online. This is again something where concurrency can help guide you through this and it’s important to be following this. If you’re using any Microsoft funding, they will frequently evaluate if you’re following these these principles before they they fund any workloads or any work. 0:47:35.683 –> 0:47:53.683 Joe Steiner Work inside of there. Again, speaking to the ongoing nature of this, the maturity model, there is a step level process here. You may not be at level 5 when you’re first going to Azure. I wouldn’t expect that you would be. 0:47:53.763 –> 0:48:13.123 Joe Steiner You know, ideally you’re at, you know, kind of those initial levels and are following the guidance there and then improving over time. It doesn’t have to be perfect upfront, but it has to be good enough. You have to have obviously the right security in there. You have to have the right cost controls inside of there. 0:48:13.763 –> 0:48:33.443 Joe Steiner You can’t let this run out of control on you, but I may not have to take those next level steps. Immediately I can start at a level that’s appropriate for my organization. What I’m actually doing in Azure really is I’m just getting into Azure. That’s more than the case as I’ve been in there a little bit. 0:48:33.683 –> 0:48:53.203 Joe Steiner Whenever you’re moving along this maturity model to take full advantage of the cloud, the cost optimization that can occur, the performance optimization, the management optimization as much of you’ll see automation is a big part of this. Zero trust is a big part of this when it comes to the security pieces of this. 0:48:53.723 –> 0:49:13.443 Joe Steiner And kind of those core cloud frameworks that you’re hearing all the time from Microsoft and in broader architectural circles that are really kind of the frameworks for how to design things in today’s cloud age. So again, it’s the just wanted to highlight here that doesn’t have to be perfect, but. 0:49:13.523 –> 0:49:24.803 Joe Steiner It has to be good enough and upfront and then you can kind of evolve this over time as we’ve helped a number of customers do in their their cloud journey. 0:49:26.363 –> 0:49:41.403 Joe Steiner So that’s what we had to share today. Hopefully that provided a a kind of a quick view of the frameworks that to be used to keep you compliant with what Microsoft support would expect to see as well as. 0:49:41.443 –> 0:49:54.803 Joe Steiner Just good proven frameworks for how to move to the cloud. So with that, I say thank you and if anybody has any questions, we can field those. Otherwise, I hope everybody has a great day.