What is AWS Migration Evaluator?

Migrating to the cloud can be a complex and challenging process for businesses. With the growing popularity of Amazon Web Services (AWS), many organizations are considering or actively planning to move their applications and data to the AWS cloud. To facilitate this migration journey, AWS offers a powerful tool called AWS Migration Evaluator.

AWS Migration Evaluator is a cloud-based service that provides organizations with a comprehensive assessment of their current IT environment and estimates the cost savings and performance improvements that can be achieved by migrating to AWS. It leverages advanced analytics and automation to analyze an organization's on-premises environment and generates detailed reports that can help businesses make informed decisions about their migration strategy.

How does AWS Migration Evaluator work?

The AWS Migration Evaluator operates in three main stages: Discover, Assess, and Report. Let's take a closer look at each of these stages:

1. Discover: In this stage, AWS Migration Evaluator scans an organization's on-premises environment to gather information about its IT assets, including servers, storage, databases, and applications. It automatically discovers and collects metadata from these assets, such as configuration details, utilization metrics, and performance data. This process helps organizations gain a holistic view of their existing environment and understand the complexity and scale of their IT infrastructure.

2. Assess: Once the discovery process is complete, AWS Migration Evaluator analyzes the collected data using a variety of built-in rules, best practices, and machine learning algorithms. It assesses the compatibility of each IT asset with AWS services and identifies potential issues that may arise during migration, such as performance bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, or licensing concerns. It also calculates the estimated costs of running the same workload on AWS, taking into account factors like instance types, storage options, and data transfer charges. This analysis provides organizations with insights into the feasibility and viability of migrating their workloads to AWS.

3. Report: After the assessment is complete, AWS Migration Evaluator generates detailed reports that summarize the findings and recommendations. These reports include visualizations, cost projections, and actionable insights that can help organizations make informed decisions about their migration strategy. For example, organizations can use the reports to identify the most suitable AWS services for their workloads, estimate the total cost of ownership (TCO) savings they can achieve by migrating to AWS, and prioritize their migration efforts based on the level of complexity and risk associated with each workload.

Why use Migration Evaluator?

AWS Migration Evaluator offers several benefits to organizations planning to migrate to AWS:

1. Accurate Assessment: AWS Migration Evaluator uses advanced analytics and automation to accurately assess an organization's IT environment and provide comprehensive insights into the feasibility and costs of migrating to AWS. This helps organizations make informed decisions about their migration strategy, mitigating risks and reducing costs.

2. Cost Optimization: AWS Migration Evaluator calculates the estimated costs of running workloads on AWS, allowing organizations to understand the cost implications of migration and optimize their cloud spending. It helps organizations identify potential cost savings, such as rightsizing instances, optimizing storage options, and leveraging AWS pricing models, to ensure that they make cost-effective decisions during migration.

3. Performance Improvement: AWS Migration Evaluator analyzes the performance data of IT assets and provides recommendations on how to optimize performance in the cloud. This helps organizations improve the performance of their workloads on AWS, ensuring that their applications and data perform optimally in the cloud environment.

4. Enhanced Visibility: AWS Migration Evaluator provides detailed reports and visualizations that offer organizations a comprehensive view of their IT environment and migration readiness. This helps organizations gain enhanced visibility into their existing environment and plan their migration strategy effectively.

AWS Migration Evaluator is a powerful tool that can help organizations assess the feasibility and costs of migrating to AWS. With its advanced analytics, automation, and comprehensive reports, it provides organizations with the insights they need to make informed decisions about their migration strategy, optimize costs, and improve performance. By leveraging AWS Migration Evaluator, organizations can mitigate risks and ensure a successful migration to the AWS cloud.

Getting Started with Migration Evaluator

If you are familiar with the AWS Console AWS Migration Evaluator is a straightforward process. Organizations can start by accessing the service through the AWS Management Console or through the AWS CLI (Command Line Interface). Once accessed, they can initiate a migration assessment by configuring the discovery settings, such as the scope of assets to scan and the level of detail to collect. The discovery process can take a few hours to several days, depending on the size and complexity of the IT environment.

Leveraging reports

Once the discovery process is complete, organizations can access the assessment reports generated by AWS Migration Evaluator. These reports provide a detailed analysis of the discovered assets, their compatibility with AWS services, potential issues, and estimated costs. Organizations can leverage these reports to gain insights into their current environment and make informed decisions about their migration strategy.

The assessment reports generated by AWS Migration Evaluator include various visualizations and metrics that provide a clear overview of the assessment results. For example, organizations can view charts that display the distribution of assets by operating system, application type, or storage type. They can also access detailed recommendations on how to optimize costs, improve performance, and enhance security during the migration process.

Costs Estimates

One of the key features of AWS Migration Evaluator is the ability to estimate the costs of running workloads on AWS. The service provides detailed cost projections based on factors such as instance types, storage options, and data transfer charges. Organizations can use these projections to compare the costs of running workloads on AWS with their current on-premises environment, and identify potential cost savings and optimization opportunities.

Another important aspect of AWS Migration Evaluator is the assessment of the compatibility of IT assets with AWS services. The service analyzes the discovered assets and provides recommendations on which AWS services are suitable for running the workloads. It also identifies potential issues that may arise during migration, such as dependencies on unsupported features or licensing concerns. This helps organizations plan their migration strategy effectively and ensure a smooth transition to the AWS cloud.

Opportunities for optimization

Furthermore, AWS Migration Evaluator provides recommendations on how to optimize performance in the cloud. It analyzes the performance data of IT assets, such as CPU utilization, memory usage, and network throughput, and provides insights on how to optimize performance in the AWS environment. Organizations can leverage these recommendations to ensure that their applications and data perform optimally in the cloud, delivering a seamless experience to end users.

In addition to cost optimization and performance improvement, AWS Migration Evaluator also helps organizations enhance their overall visibility into their IT environment. The service provides detailed reports and visualizations that offer a comprehensive view of the discovered assets, their characteristics, and their migration readiness. Organizations can use these reports to gain insights into their current environment, identify areas that require attention, and plan their migration strategy effectively.