According to Logicworks configuration management is the key to understanding what a “good AWS implementation” is. This removes the main obstacle to cloud migrations.
“The No. “The No. 1 reason that AWS migration projects stalls is not because of a shortage of talent or lack of planning. It is simply because there is no clear vision of what an AWS environment looks and feels like for their particular complex workloads,” the company stated in a blog post. “There is no standard way to assess current environments or a template to build new ones. This uncertainty is what causes downstream security and performance concerns.”
According to the company, enterprise IT teams that are tasked with migrating into AWS cloud must be guided in meeting agreed-upon standards such as server configurations and monitoring.
“This is where IT faces its first obstacle: they must create a common baseline for security availability, auditability, and security that everyone agrees on,” Logicworks stated. “They must develop’minimum viable’ cloud configurations. For example: MFA on root, everything inside a VPC and CloudTrail enabled everywhere.
The company stated that once standards have been established, they should be integrated into templates and enforced through configuration management. A security template should be created once security standards have been agreed upon. This template should be used for future migrations and not need to be modified for each new project.
The company offers a Cloud Migration Service to help with these chores. This is one of many offerings offered by AWS (such as AWS Database Migration Service or AWS Application Discovery Service), and third parties. It provides gap analysis, report and remediation services.
Gap analysis is used to evaluate factors such as governance standards, technical configurations, availability, and staffing to identify key areas that could pose challenges in future and existing projects.
The Logicworks service offers an 89-point gap analysis tool to analyze an environment and compare it to industry standards and Logicworks best practice. These standards are not met by every project. If the situation is not satisfactory, the service will suggest remedial actions.
“If you’re planning to migrate to AWS, the No. The company concluded that configuration management (CM), should be implemented in your existing systems. As stated above, CM implementation requires that you a) create the right standards and b), ‘code’ them into a central place. This is the hardest part. This is the hardest part. Once you have done this, migrating your data to AWS will be much easier.
Logicworks stated that companies may not have the resources or time to manage such configurations themselves. Therefore, it would be easier for them to hire a company that offers a common set standards and a well-developed CM framework like Logicworks.
