Migrating database instances to the cloud is a complex task that often results in a disappointing outcome, including a complete failure. To repatriate a database back to an on-premises infrastructure wastes time and money. In addition, it causes disruption in the operations of an organization. Read this whitepaper to learn more about developing the right strategy with proper optimization, planning and monitoring throughout the entire migration.

1. © 2019 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2022 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR MIGRATING
DATABASES TO THE CLOUD
Migrating database instances to the cloud is generally a complex task that often results in a disappointing outcome,
including a complete failure. The repatriation of a database back to an on-premises infrastructure is a waste of time and money,
in addition to the disruption in an organization’s operations. It’s therefore essential to ensure you develop the right strategy
with proper optimization, planning and monitoring throughout the entire migration.

2. © 2019 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
Survey of 350 cloud decision-makers
• Many migrated at least some applications to public cloud
• Most moved at least one application back to on-premises platform
• They cited unanticipated problems as reason for rollbacks
• delay or cancel all other projects that have not been launched yet
© 2022 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
PROBLEMS

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Most common reasons for repatriating databases
• Databases should have remained on-premises
• Public cloud is not best platform for all databases
• Public cloud requires solid understanding of their data, privacy, &
security requirements
Select wrong cloud provider
• Can cause organizations to rethink their database migration
• Wrong decision is often expensive and disruptive
• Public clouds only require customers to pay for used resources
• On-premises data centers require capital expenditure instead
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CAUSES

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Unexpected usage
• Increases cost of cloud platform
• Result of surge in business or poor planning
• Hosting costs can be greater when not optimizing database for cloud
• Optimizing databases during migration is impractical
• Optimize databases while they are still on-premises
Technical challenges
• Play major role in database repatriation
• Numerous configuration options and environments require careful consideration
• Database administrators often assume easy integration into cloud platform
• Poorly executed migration can cause problems including complete outages
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CAUSES

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Performance degradation
• May be a deciding factor when migrating database back to local server
• Common problem in hybrid clouds with more complex infrastructure
• Some performance loss is inevitable
• Low performance may overwhelm benefits of migrating databases to cloud
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CAUSES

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Better monitoring of database workload characteristics before
migration
• Important for successful migration
• Need deep understanding of databases within context of their
operating environment
• Less likely that migrations needs to be undone
Offline migration
• Simplest approach
• Database applications need to tolerate downtime for entire migration
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SOLUTIONS

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Online migration
• Keep databases running while copying databases to cloud
1. Propagate changes from source database to destination database
2. Cut over after synchronization of databases
3. Applications switch connections from source to target database
• Requires much more planning
• Include test run to identify and correct problems
© 2022 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
SOLUTIONS