Move Without Breaking |
Every migration is a bet that the new home works before the old one is gone. We stage, verify, and rehearse until the cutover is the most boring night of the quarter.
Four Promises Every Migration Gets
Written into the plan before anything moves — not negotiated during the incident.
Five Phases, No Surprises
The same disciplined path whether it's one app or a whole datacenter exit.
Assess What Actually Exists
Inventory of apps, databases, dependencies, and the undocumented cron job everything secretly relies on. The map must match the territory before anything moves.
Design the Landing Zone
Target architecture, network layout, access model, and IaC foundations — built and reviewed before the first byte migrates.
Migrate in Slices
Workloads move in dependency order — lift-and-shift where that's right, re-platform where it pays. Each slice verified before the next starts.
Verify Against Production Truth
Data reconciliation, load tests against real traffic patterns, and a parallel-run period where the old system stays warm.
Optimize the New Home
Rightsizing, monitoring, and cost tuning after real workloads settle — migration ends with the platform better, not just moved.
Assess What Actually Exists
Inventory of apps, databases, dependencies, and the undocumented cron job everything secretly relies on. The map must match the territory before anything moves.
Design the Landing Zone
Target architecture, network layout, access model, and IaC foundations — built and reviewed before the first byte migrates.
Migrate in Slices
Workloads move in dependency order — lift-and-shift where that's right, re-platform where it pays. Each slice verified before the next starts.
Verify Against Production Truth
Data reconciliation, load tests against real traffic patterns, and a parallel-run period where the old system stays warm.
Optimize the New Home
Rightsizing, monitoring, and cost tuning after real workloads settle — migration ends with the platform better, not just moved.
Four Ways to Move, Chosen per Workload
The right answer differs per application — forcing one strategy on a whole portfolio is how migrations go a year over.
Lift & Shift
Move as-is when the app works and the deadline matters — modernize later, deliberately.
Re-Platform
Swap the parts that hurt — managed databases, object storage, load balancers — keep the code.
Refactor & Split
Break the monolith along its real seams, into containers and services worth owning.
Database Migration
Engine upgrades, cross-cloud moves, and schema modernization with reconciliation checks throughout.
The Goal Is a Boring Cutover
A good migration ends with an anticlimax: DNS flips, dashboards stay green, and everyone goes to bed on time. That outcome is manufactured — by rehearsal, reconciliation, and a rollback plan nobody ends up needing.
Dry Runs First
The cutover sequence executes on staging until it's muscle memory.
Data Never Guesses
Row counts, checksums, and spot audits — both sides must agree before traffic moves.
Old System Stays Warm
Parallel running means rollback is a switch, not a restore.
You Hold the Trigger
Cutover happens when your team says go — never because a project plan said Tuesday.
Migration FAQs
The questions every team asks before committing to a move.