SAP Application Migration to Azure Cloud: what should we consider ??

Every big enterprise will always have 3 Main Objectives when it comes with their IT-Environment.

1. Reduce Capital Cost over years i.e., 1–3–5 yrs of duration.
2. Reduce Operating Cost &
3. Improve Quality of service.

Many enterprises nowadays are looking to quickly seek the benefits of the cloud by migrating their workloads and applications to cloud . However, cloud migration majorly focuses on two crucial things “STRATEGY” & “PLANNING”.

When you think to move your workloads to Azure Cloud, there is always an exercise which enterprises usually perform. which is to check whether their workloads are compatible enough to be hosted on cloud platform. By carefully understanding customer’s requirement, Microsoft Azure has built an 7-Pillars on which the wider landscape of SAP can spread and operate..

P1: Security, P2: Performance, P3: Scalability, P4: Availability, P5: Recoverability, P6: Efficiency, P7: Operations.

These 6 Phases of Migration really plays an vital role for SAP workload Transformation to Azure cloud. The Phases are illustrated as;

1. Assessment : Performing inventory of SAP components and applications, Targeting application inventory for azure then outlining RACI matrix, Performing high level solution architecture also, outlining and listing azure regions and services. Assessing Network architecture to connect from on-premise to azure also maintaining security principles for running high-impact business data in azure. Requirement gathering on block diagrams for solutions also outlining compute size and network components. Documents mentioning business continuity and Disaster Recovery architecture, Technical design documents outlining information about OS, DB, kernel, and SAP support pack versions. Design documents on three-tier of SAP production systems with high availability and disaster recovery architecture. Last but not the least Inventory list of all SAP Interfaces (SAP & Non-SAP)
2. Planning : Planning Foundational Services like; Active Directory and DNS design, Network Topology design and Mapping different SAP systems, Defining RBAC (Role Based Access Control) structure for multiple teams, Defining Resource group strategy, Defining Tagging strategy, Defining Naming convention strategy for all azure services. Planning Support Structure like; Microsoft Support, SAP Support, Any 3rd party support. Planning Azure Scope Out like; Listing all required services available in the shortlisted azure regions, Enabling quota improvements in Azure regions, Data reduction and Data migration plan, Feasibility check for SAP automation ( CLI / Powershell / Terraform ). Planning Review and SignOff like; Acceptance on all design docs, Acceptance on all flow design docs, Acceptance on all system integration design docs, Acceptance on all parties involved (Microsoft, SAP, ISV).
3. Pre-Condition Checks : Initialize and perform Precondition checks like; Access checks & verification of connectivity between on-premise & cloud, setup and configuration of migration/replication tools, Identification of dependencies & provision landing zone, Sign-Off from SME(Subject Matter Expert) on technical & design document, Sign-Off from project owners on migration plan.
4. Migration : Migration Phase can be performed in three phases (Pilot Phase → Pre-Production Phase → Full Scale Commissioning Phase) like; Defining Virtual Machine types, Validating size of the deployed infrastructure (mostly with bench-marked value), Validating storage & network throughput of Virtual Machine (windows / linux), Defining Storage types, Monitoring performance counters on storage, Network setup and integration checks, Central logging and auditing of network, Testing data path between SAP application layer and SAP DBMS layer, High availability and disaster recovery deployments, Timeout settings checks, Testing HA (High Availability) and DR(Disaster Recovery) procedures, Security Checks, Setup and testing Data transfer, Import & export of databases, Testing and optimizing the export phases, migration monitoring checks, Performance Testing (Based on SAP tracing and measurements).
5. Verification : Verification is the post-migration checks like; Performing smoke test to validate migration correctness, Monitoring Application health checks, Monitoring Infrastructure (IaaS / PaaS) Services health,
6. Manage & Operate : After verification the workloads can be moved in the Operation phase which can be carried out by Reviewing Azure invoices for high-charging systems, Optimizing price/performance efficiency on the VM(Virtual Machine) side and the storage side, Optimizing the times to shut-down systems, Monitoring & correction of application & Infrastructure health, Resolving error/ defect fixing raised due to migration, Arranging knowledge transfer session for run support team, Aligning to cloud ready support model then handover deliverable created during migration life-cycle to operations team.