Choose between lift-and-shift, lift-shift-migrate, and lift-shift-migrate to HANA

When it comes to migrating SAP workloads to Azure, there are several approaches to choose from. One common decision IT administrators face is whether to opt for lift-and-shift, lift-shift-migrate, or lift-shift-migrate to HANA. Each approach has its own benefits and considerations, and understanding them can help you make an informed decision for your SAP workload migration strategy.

Lift-and-Shift

Lift-and-shift is the simplest and quickest approach to migrate SAP workloads to Azure. In this approach, the entire SAP environment, including infrastructure, applications, and data, is moved to Azure without making any changes to the architecture. The focus is on replicating the existing environment as closely as possible.

To perform a lift-and-shift migration, you would typically provision virtual machines (VMs) in Azure that match the specifications of your on-premises hardware. You would then replicate your data to Azure storage. Once the infrastructure is in place, you can connect the Azure VMs to your existing SAP systems and applications, allowing for a seamless transition.

Lift-and-shift migration offers several advantages. It minimizes the need for application modifications and reduces the risk of compatibility issues. Additionally, it allows for a fast migration with minimal disruption to the business. However, this approach may not take full advantage of Azure’s capabilities and may not deliver optimal performance and cost optimization.

Lift-Shift-Migrate

The lift-shift-migrate approach is an iterative migration strategy that involves lifting and shifting the SAP workload to Azure, followed by optimizing the migrated environment. In this approach, the initial lift-and-shift operation provides a quick entry into the cloud, while subsequent steps focus on fine-tuning the environment to take advantage of Azure features.

After performing the initial lift-and-shift migration, you can start optimizing the SAP workload in Azure. This can include re-architecting the infrastructure, leveraging Azure-specific services, and implementing best practices for performance, scalability, and security. For example, you could consider migrating your databases to Azure SQL Database or using Azure Virtual Machines specifically optimized for SAP workloads.

Lift-shift-migrate offers the advantage of faster migration with minimal disruptions, followed by the ability to optimize the environment over time. It allows you to take advantage of Azure’s rich set of services and features to improve performance, scalability, and security. However, it requires additional planning and effort to achieve the optimal configuration.

Lift-Shift-Migrate to HANA

If your SAP workload relies on SAP HANA, you may consider the lift-shift-migrate to HANA approach. This approach involves migrating your SAP environment to Azure and upgrading the underlying database to SAP HANA. This requires careful planning, as migrating to SAP HANA involves specific considerations and dependencies.

To lift-shift-migrate to HANA, you would first perform a lift-and-shift migration of your SAP environment to Azure, similar to the previous approaches. Once the environment is in Azure, you can then upgrade your database to SAP HANA. This upgrade can provide benefits such as improved performance, real-time analytics, and simplified data management.

Migrating to HANA requires thorough testing and planning, as it may necessitate modifications to your SAP applications to ensure compatibility. Additionally, you would need to consider HANA-specific Azure offerings, such as Azure Large Instances, to provide the necessary compute and memory resources.

In summary, choosing between lift-and-shift, lift-shift-migrate, and lift-shift-migrate to HANA depends on your specific requirements and priorities. Lift-and-shift offers a quick and simple migration, while lift-shift-migrate allows for iterative optimization of the environment. Lift-shift-migrate to HANA is suitable for SAP workloads that require the benefits of SAP HANA. By carefully evaluating your needs and utilizing Azure’s resources, you can successfully migrate your SAP workloads to Azure.