Azure Migration Checklist

In this article we can explore the Requirement Checklists while Migrating an ASP.NET application to Azure.

Migration

Azure Migration is a common scenario. The source application could be ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC etc. Many companies face the question whether they should migrate to Azure or not.

I am producing below the Checklist which can be helpful in making the Migration decision process.

Checklist

Following are the checklist items while you decide to Migrate an existing ASP.NET application to Azure.

ROI Checklist
Infrastructure Cost	Calculate the Infrastructure purchase cost & savings through azure.
Support Cost	Calculate the Support Professionals hire cost & savings through azure.
Software Cost	Calculate the Software purchase cost & savings through azure.
Scaling Cost	Calculate automatic scaling up / down flexibility, cost advantages. Compare with existing hosting.
Overall ROI	Find breakeven point. Ensure ROI is better with Azure Hosting.
Application
Compatibility	Ensure the Application is Compatible with Azure environment.
Dependency	Find depending applications on the Source application & database.
Scalability	Ensure the Azure Scalability, Geographical Redundancy, Edge Servers are meeting your Application requirements.
Hosting Type	Come up with a plan of Public hosting, Private hosting Or Hybrid hosting
Network Traffic	Find the Network Traffic of current Application to ensure Azure pricing won’t give any surprises.
ASP.NET
Session State	The current ASP.NET session state management may not be compatible with Azure hosting. Conduct a compatibility analysis on same.
Caching	The current ASP.NET Caching mechanism may not be compatible with Azure hosting. Conduct a compatibility analysis on same.
Configuration File	Ensure the app settings, Connection strings are compatible with Azure
Database
Database Version	Confirm the source database version compatibility with Azure database. If there is Incompatibility, Migration of database to a compatible version required. After that we can perform Azure migration.
Database Size	Confirm the database size is within the limitation & budget for Azure.
Transaction Volume	Ensure the database queries, transaction volume does not exceed the Azure plan. Identify depending applications which queries the database frequently.
Linked Servers	Find out linked servers in existing application & ensure they can be connected to Azure hosting.
Security
Authentication	Ensure the current Authentication mechanism is compatible with Azure. If not come with a Remediation plan.
Authorization	Ensure the current Authorization mechanism is compatible with Azure. If not come with a Remediation plan.
Active Directory	Ensure Active Directory Users, Roles & Custom Properties are migrated accurately to Azure.
Information Security	Azure involves storing data outside company managed servers. We need to ensure client information security policies align with this.
Development
Developer Machine	Ensure proper Developer machine or VM configuration for Developer
Staging Machine	Ensure proper Stating machine or VM configuration for Staging the application builds
Testing Machine	Ensure proper Testing machine or VM configuration for Tester
Deployment
VM Deployment	Find out whether the whole application can be deployed as a VM deployment.
Diagnostics	Create Diagnostics plan for Monitoring and Alerting on Response Time, CPU availability, Errors etc.
Disaster Recovery	Ensure backup & recovery methods can be propagated to Azure
Testing
Performance Testing	Ensure the Application Metrics are compatible with Azure hosting – Average Response Time, Concurrent User Access etc.
Data Testing	Ensure the Data being migrated is accurate
Business Testing	Ensure core business logic, background logic is accurately working in new Azure hosting.
Domain Name Testing	Ensure all the domain names, sub-domain names are Migrated well to Azure

We can also migrate PHP application to Azure. In this case most of the Checklist items still applies to PHP application too.

Summary

In this article we have explored key points regarding Azure Migration.