Here is my highlevel framework for working with customers to migrate their application to Azure. It is work in progress, but I wanted to get version 1.0 out there so 2.0 can happen one day!

Before we begin, here is our fictitious three-tiered app:

• UI – ASP.NET Web Forms, stateful
• API – .NET, java, monolith
• DB – SQL, cross-database queries, tempDB

Here is what my agenda looks like for an app migration session to Azure:

• Discovery: Ask questions about EACH component
  • Lift and shift, modernize, refactor, rewrite for cloud native
  • What else is key to the solution?
    • Windows or Linux?!
    • Containers, serverless, microservices, PaaS
    • Scalability, manageability, HA, DR
    • Reuse vs redo
    • Compliance, data governance
    • Stateful vs stateless
  • Outline the options in Azure and educate the customer about each one
    • Compute, storage, database, etc
• Solution Design:
  • Drive toward a solution by building/drawing the future state on the whiteboard (or draw.io) as you make key architectural decisions
  • Examples:
    • AKS
      • UI, API
      • Microservices
    • DB
    • CI/CD
    • Inbound
    • Backend services
      • Serverless
    • Monitoring
    • High Availability
    • Disaster Recovery