Azure Migration Pre‐Migration Checklist - vespertron/AzureDataFactory_Migration GitHub Wiki

Azure Migration Pre-Migration Checklist

1. Infrastructure & Inventory

  • Inventory all on-prem servers, VMs, databases, and apps
  • Map all interdependencies (e.g., app servers tied to databases)
  • Assess OS compatibility with Azure
  • Identify legacy components (e.g., 32-bit apps, outdated drivers)

Tools: Azure Migrate, Microsoft Assessment Toolkit, MAP Toolkit

2. Data & Storage

  • Identify all structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data
  • Classify data by sensitivity (PII, financial, IP, etc.)
  • Estimate data volume and transfer timelines
  • Determine storage tiering (hot, cool, archive)
  • Plan for schema conversion or transformation (if needed)

Suggested Tools: Azure Data Factory, Azure Database Migration Service (DMS)

3. Security & Compliance

  • Review RBAC and IAM models — map to Azure AD
  • Assess network security (VPN, firewall, NSGs)
  • Encrypt data at rest and in transit
  • Review compliance needs (HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, etc.)
  • Enable logging & auditing (Azure Monitor, Log Analytics)

4. Architecture & Design

  • Define landing zone (resource groups, regions, subscriptions)
  • Choose appropriate services (VMs, PaaS, containers, serverless)
  • Design for scalability (auto-scaling, load balancing)
  • Plan for high availability & disaster recovery
  • Decide on hybrid connectivity (VPN, ExpressRoute)

5. Cost Estimation & Optimization

  • Use Azure Pricing Calculator and TCO Calculator
  • Evaluate reserved instances vs pay-as-you-go
  • Right-size VMs and services
  • Set budgets and configure cost alerts

6. Business Alignment & Stakeholders

  • Define business goals for the migration (cost, performance, flexibility)
  • Identify and involve stakeholders (IT, Finance, Legal)
  • Confirm SLAs, KPIs, and success metrics
  • Plan staff training on Azure services

7. Migration Strategy

  • Choose migration approach:
    • Rehost (lift & shift)
    • Refactor (minor changes)
    • Rearchitect (significant redesign)
    • Rebuild (cloud-native redesign)
  • Create phased migration plan (by workload priority)
  • Build rollback and contingency plans

8. Testing & Validation

  • Create Azure test environments
  • Conduct functional and performance testing
  • Validate data integrity and system behavior
  • Monitor for failures or latency

9. Cutover & Post-Migration

  • Schedule cutover window and downtime (if any)
  • Notify all impacted teams
  • Switch DNS/routing and validate system access
  • Monitor post-migration behavior
  • Decommission old systems and update documentation

Resources