Project Context
A prominent federal agency faced a significant challenge in migrating over 100 legacy applications to the AWS cloud within a tight two-year timeframe. Our Team was entrusted to planning and executing the migration of over 200 applications and 1,000+ databases to the cloud by 2023. The systems involved were critical for the agency to provide mission-essential services, making uninterrupted service a top priority.
Challenge
The Agency confronted the challenge of migrating a large number of legacy applications with fragile infrastructure to the AWS cloud within a short two-year window. The existing systems were outdated, posing risks to service continuity. Manually re-architecting each system was not viable given the tight deadline, necessitating a rapid, automated transition process. The need for uninterrupted services added complexity to the migration.
Solution
The Team addressed the challenge by implementing a phased approach with a rapid migration to AWS cloud using lift-and-Pour migration methodology followed by automating the migration process to meet the tight deadline. This approach allowed for the migration of each planned application 100% on or ahead of schedule. By leveraging AWS's resilient and scalable cloud resources, we ensured a smooth transition, replacing costly on-premises servers with more efficient cloud infrastructure. The solution involved migrating not only applications but also over 1,000 databases critical for the Agency.
Cloud Automation:Â The organization embraced cloud automation tools to streamline the provisioning and management of resources. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) methodologies were adopted to ensure consistency and reproducibility across environments.
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE):Â Implementing SRE principles helped the company maintain high system reliability. Automated incident response, monitoring, and continuous improvement were integral components of the SRE approach.
Application Automation:Â The deployment and scaling of applications were automated using modern DevOps practices. This not only accelerated release cycles but also improved the overall reliability and resilience of the applications.
Splunk Integration:Â The organization integrated Splunk for comprehensive log analysis and real-time monitoring. This enabled proactive identification of issues, rapid troubleshooting, and enhanced overall system visibility.
AWS CloudWatch:Â Leveraging AWS CloudWatch, the company gained insights into the performance of its applications and infrastructure. This facilitated proactive monitoring, alerting, and efficient resource utilization.
Security Measures:Â Robust security measures were implemented, including identity and access management (IAM), encryption, and continuous security monitoring. The security posture was enhanced to meet compliance requirements and protect against evolving threats.
Database Automation:Â Database provisioning, scaling, and management were automated to ensure optimal performance and reduce manual intervention. This streamlined database-related processes and improved overall system efficiency.
CI/CD Practices:Â Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines were implemented, facilitating quick and dependable software update deliveries. This guaranteed a faster time-to-market and minimized the risk of deployment errors.
Key Results & Positive Outcomes
The initiative to modernize infrastructure and migrate to the cloud brought about a significant transformation for the organization. Key results include:
Increased Scalability:Â Achieved scalable solutions on demand, allowing efficient management of varying workloads.
Improved Reliability:Â The adoption of SRE practices and automation enhanced system reliability and minimized downtime.
Enhanced Security:Â Implementing strong security measures strengthened the organization's protection against cyber threats.
Faster Time-to-Market:Â CI/CD pipelines enabled quick and dependable software releases, shortening the time-to-market for new features and updates.
Resilient and Scalable Infrastructure:Â Migrating to AWS's cloud resources provided the Agency with robust and scalable infrastructure, decreasing reliance on outdated legacy platforms.
Efficient Migration:Â Our phased migration strategy allowed for each application to be migrated on or ahead of schedule, ensuring a timely transition.
Cost Savings:Â By removing expensive legacy servers, the Agency achieved $1.2 million in annual cost avoidance, enhancing overall cost-effectiveness.
Accelerated Deployments:Â On-demand provisioning reduced environment setup time from weeks to minutes, speeding up deployments by 68%.