C-Suite’s Step-by-Step Guide to Successful AWS Transitioning- Part 2

After in Part 1 we have covered the first critical steps to complete before migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS)-  Cloud Adoption Readiness Assessment (CARA).  We will continue

2. Develop Strategies for Security, Reliability, Compliance and Operational Excellence

Once you’ve assessed your readiness, it’s essential to develop a comprehensive cloud strategy aligning with your business goals and objectives. The strategy should cover key areas – including security, reliability, compliance and operational excellence. You should consider the best practices and AWS services that’ll help you achieve your goals in each of these areas.

3. Create AWS Organization and Accounts

Organizing your AWS accounts is critical to achieving optimal management, governance, and security of your cloud resources. You should create a hierarchy of AWS accounts aligning with your organizational structure and business needs. This approach enables you to delegate permissions and control access to resources effectively.

4. Create Security Users, Roles and Groups

To secure your AWS environment, you should create users, roles and groups managing access to AWS resources. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a powerful tool enabling you to control who can access your AWS resources and how they can access them. You should follow best practices for creating users, roles and groups to maintain the highest level of security.

5. Secure Your Control Plane

The control plane is the part of your AWS environment managing and controlling access to your cloud resources. It’s essential to secure the control plane to protect your cloud resources from unauthorized access and attacks. You can use AWS security services, such as AWS Shield and AWS WAF, to secure the control plane and protect your AWS environment.

6. Design and Build Your Infrastructure

Designing and building your infrastructure in AWS requires careful planning and execution. You should follow best practices for designing and building your infrastructure to achieve scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. AWS provides several services, such as Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, and Amazon RDS – allowing you to build robust and scalable infrastructure in the cloud.

7. Design and Build Your Application

Designing and building your application in AWS requires a cloud-native approach leveraging AWS services and best practices. You should consider using containers, serverless computing, and microservices to achieve high availability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. AWS provides several services – such as AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon DynamoDB – enabling you to build scalable and resilient applications in the cloud.

8. Plan for Disaster Recovery and Backups

Disaster recovery and backups are crucial to protect your data and applications in the cloud. You should plan for disaster recovery and backups to ensure you can recover from disasters and data loss events quickly. AWS provides several services – such as AWS Backup and AWS Disaster Recovery – empowering you to plan for disaster recovery and backups effectively.

9. Set Up CI/CD Pipelines

Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines enable you to automate your software delivery process – making it faster, more reliable, and more scalable. You should set up CI/CD pipelines to build, test and deploy your applications continuously in the cloud. AWS provides several services – such as AWS CodePipeline, AWS CodeBuild, and AWS CodeDeploy –permitting you to set up and manage CI/CD pipelines effectively.

10. Deploy Your Application

Deploying your application in AWS requires careful planning and execution to ensure it meets your business requirements and user expectations. You should follow best practices for deploying your application to achieve high availability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. AWS provides several services – such as AWS Elastic Beanstalk and AWS CloudFormation – allowing you to deploy your application quickly and efficiently.

11. Run Load Testing and Performance Testing

Load testing and performance testing are crucial for ensuring your application can handle the expected user load and perform well under stress. You should run load testing and performance testing to identify and fix bottlenecks and performance issues, before they impact your users. AWS provides several services – such as AWS Load Testing and AWS X-Ray – enabling you to run load testing and performance testing effectively.

12. Develop Run-Books and SOPs for Ongoing Managed Services

To ensure your AWS environment remains secure, reliable, and cost-effective, you should develop run-books and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for ongoing managed services. These documents should outline the processes and procedures for managing and maintaining your AWS environment – including monitoring, backups, updates and security.

Transitioning to AWS requires careful planning and execution to achieve optimal results. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can successfully transition to AWS and gain the benefits of cloud computing.