Qualitative Analysis of Application Migration to the Public Cloud and Framework for Application Architecture Migration Risks

Shawn Cicoria, Pace University

Abstract

Cloud Computing remains a major area of disruption for Information Technology (IT) Professionals. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure grew by accommodating a migration approach called Lift and Shift (aka Fork-Lift). This scenario leverages server virtualization of On-Premises applications that are simply moved to virtual machines that run within a Public Cloud Provider’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment. Cloud providers recognized the importance of IaaS and provided tooling, expertise, and incentives for organizations to Lift and Shift applications into their Cloud platforms. Opinions differ on the effectiveness of the Lift and Shift migration approach. An On-Premises data center has hardware that achieves performance levels not possible in a Public Cloud Provider’s data center. Issues such as reduced performance levels are often discovered by IT Professionals after a Lift and Shift migration. The performance constraints in the Public Cloud may inhibit an application from running well, or not at all, after migration. For many IT Professionals, knowledge of these additional concerns could assist the decision process when identifying what is needed to Lift and Shift an application. This research provides expert opinions for risk vectors attributed to common methods of design used for On-Premises applications. These risk vectors also influence the approach that cloud experts recognize or avoid when migrating applications, or even building applications on a Public Cloud Provider’s platform.

Subject Area

Computer science

Recommended Citation

Cicoria, Shawn, "Qualitative Analysis of Application Migration to the Public Cloud and Framework for Application Architecture Migration Risks" (2017). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI10281300.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI10281300

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