Best practices for VMware Migration on AWS

Full disclosure before we discuss the VMware migration to AWS: As an AWS Premier Partner, we’re a bit biased when it comes to cloud providers and solutions. But we really do believe that AWS offers the best opportunities and strategic advantages for many organisations. And with the changes Broadcom is implementing on VMware, many existing customers are coming to the same conclusion.

Making the Decision to Move VMware to AWS

Deciding to transition to another environment is a significant step for any organisation. It requires careful consideration, planning, and execution to ensure minimal disruption and maximum benefit. The AWS Well-Architected Framework, as well as the Cloud Adoption Framework, serves as guiding principles for our customers’ migration: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimisation, and sustainability.

This blog post will explore how to migrate VMware to AWS following these pillars to ensure a robust and efficient cloud architecture.

Aligning Well-Architected Best Practices with AWS Migration from VMware

Security

Security is crucial for any migration process, including migrating VMware workloads to AWS. Modernising out of VMware to AWS gives you access to capabilities that will improve your security posture:

Ensuring all data in transit and at rest is encrypted with key management service for security.
Managing identity and access, granting only the necessary permissions for users to perform their tasks.

Reliability

Migrating to AWS following the Well-Architected Framework gives you a reliable system that can quickly recover from failures to meet business and customers demands. Modernising out of VMware can future-proof your infrastructure by:

Implementing disaster recovery plans with AWS services like Amazon S3 for durable storage and AWS Backup for centralised backup management.
Ensuring fault tolerance with AWS multiple Availability Zone deployments.

Performance efficiency

AWS has various tools to enable you to use your IT and computing resources efficiently during and after your migration from VMware:

Right-sizing your AWS resources with a service like AWS Auto Scaling to automatically adjust according to usage pattern.
Matching storage solutions with performance needs – whether for high-performance block storage or scalable object storage.

Cost optimisation

If cost is one of the reasons you’re moving from VMware to AWS, you’ll be glad to know that optimising your cloud resource usage and tracking expenses are integral to a successful AWS migration strategy. However, it’s not just about cost optimisation—it’s centred around cloud cost intelligence. Our FinOps practices, with their key pillars of Inform, Operate, and Optimise, make monitoring and managing your cloud expenses easier and more efficient, driving greater value from your AWS migration. These practices ensure the process is seamless and effective:

Inform: AWS tools provide deep insights into your cost patterns, helping you understand where your money is going and identifying opportunities for savings.
Operate: By adopting best practices, such as using reserved instances for predictable workloads and spot instances for flexible, non-critical tasks, you can efficiently manage your cloud spending.
Optimise: Continuous optimisation ensures your cloud resources are used effectively, reducing overall costs while maintaining performance.

Sustainability

If sustainability is a commitment of your organisation, migrating to a VMware to AWS migration is a step in the right direction:

Right-sizing instances and using serverless architectures where possible reduces the carbon footprint associated with over-provisioned resources.
Supporting energy efficiency as AWS is working towards powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.

The AWS Well-Architected Framework ensures a strategic and successful VMware to AWS Migration

Migrating from VMware to AWS is a strategic move that can offer substantial benefits to customers. By leveraging the AWS Well-Architected Framework, you can be sure that your migration process is efficient, secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable. Implementing these best practices will help your business stay ahead in the competitive market, future-proofing your IT infrastructure, driving business growth, and contributing to a more sustainable future.

For a more tailored guide on how to migrate your operations on VMware to AWS, you can get in touch with us for a free, one-day, no-obligation assessment. During this assessment, we’d look at your workloads, operations, and really get to know your business to identify and refine what you need for a successful migration to AWS.

Click here if you need more information about VMware migration to AWS or to book your free assessment.