Microsoft Eases Migration Between Azure Data Centers

If migrating cloud assets between Microsoft Azure data centers has been proving to be a little complex, have no fear. Microsoft (MSFT) is promising that its latest tool will make it simpler and easier for customers and partners to migrate those resources between Azure data centers.

According to Guy Bowerman, senior program manager for Azure Compute Runtime, fairly common scenarios like moving cloud assets between Azure data centers and moving cloud deployments from one subscription to another in the same data centers have been complex functions to perform. The new Azure Data Center Migration Solution was designed to change that, though.

Designed by Persistent Systems, the solution is a free open source offering that was developed in collaboration with the Microsoft Azure CAT team in Bangalore. Bowerman noted in a blog post that the new solution “takes much of the pain away from these types of migration.”

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The solution is licensed under the Apache v2.0 license and “provides a highly flexible and extensible method of moving assets from one Azure data center to another. With a focus on atomicity, this utility is designed to handle interruptions and either start from where it left off or roll back.”

Anything that simplifies migrations between data centers is likely to be well-received by not only Azure’s customers, but also its many partners who are often tasked with doing the migration.

The solution doesn’t necessarily solve the issue of downtime, though. As Bowerman noted, when the “absolute minimum” downtime is required in doing a migration, the free Microsoft Migration Accelerator tool is there and helps to ease the transition into Azure from competing public cloud providers like VMware and Amazon Web Services.

“As more Azure migration products become available, it’s getting easier to find a solution to match your requirements, whether you need the flexibility and atomicity of Persistent’s open source JSON based template approach, the high availability approach of Migration Accelerator or Double-Take MOVE,” Bowerman wrote.