Data migration to cloud services is the new long-term trend in the digital world of databases. Following are three main reasons of ever-increasing popularity of “Database as a Service” model
- Reduced TCO that is total cost of ownership
- Easily scalable hardware and software architectures
- Virtualization of data
Vendors providing Cloud based solutions
| Following are vendors and IT corporations are offering cloud-based solution:Azure – Cloud service for Microsoft SQL, MySQL and PostgreSQL databasesDatabase Cloud Service by Oracle – “Database as a Service” solution for Oracle databasesGoogle Cloud SQL – Cloud service for all the most popular database management systemsIBM SmartCloud – IBM SAAS platform for DB2 databasesAmazon Relational Database Service (RDS) – Cloud services for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft SQL, IBM DB and Oracle databases provided by AmazonMigration ProcessThe process of complete migration from database server to the cloud is performed in following steps. |
1. Plan and setup
This step requires most of the contribution by human resources in terms of research and understanding and planning database applications semantic. There are some tools to help identify missing features in the destination database cloud, the role of project manager is to understand the working of a specific functionality in a particular database system and to find design alternatives. The key points to make decision about database migration are:
- Estimation of development efforts
- Cost of deploying the alternatives
2. Development & Application Changes
In most cases database migration from on-premise server to cloud leads to some changes on application level. For example, when migrating from SQL Server to Azure it is necessary to create clustered indexes for each target table that does not have it by design. Also, Azure SQL does not support RESTORE statement and cannot attach databases to the SQL Server.
In case no database objects are changed during the migration, the application architecture requires modifications due to differences in:
- Security
- Logging
- Error handling
- Robust retry logic.
3. Testing
This is definitely the most important and critical step of the entire migration process.
Below is the list of testing areas based on performance and functionality tests:
- Security system
- Handling errors
- Logging
- Logic of retry attempts
- Network issues
- Scale-out concept
During the test phase, database activity should be isolated otherwise results of benchmark may get distorted.
Intelligent Converters Solutions
Intelligent Converters software company provides a large range of tools and services to migrate from any on-premise database servers like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL, IBM DB2, MS Access, DBase/FoxPro, MS Excel into private or public cloud. These tools automate migration of the data, constraints, indexes and queries (views) into the cloud storage providing all necessary transformations. Their experts will carefully guide through all steps of migration process listed above providing necessary information and advises.
Wide collection of advanced tools and cutting-edge skills in this field allow Intelligent Converters to provide unique solutions to migrate databases to both private and public clouds.