The information stored in your corporate databases is among your most valuable—and sensitive—assets. You dedicate enormous amounts of time and money to keeping it safe, in part because the way you manage it can impact customer trust and even the public perception of your brand. International data privacy policies (such as GDPR) have become increasingly common and their existence highlights the importance of proper data handling.
While security is understandably paramount for most companies, it starts, similarly to everything in IT, with architecture. However, the implications of data architecture extend well beyond considerations of privacy and into the realm of scalability, functionality and interoperability. If you are contemplating shifting from SQL Server to Azure, this post will help you weigh the decision with confidence.
Scalability
When your datacenter is housed within physical hardware on your premises, you can only increase storage and compute power by adding new hardware of your own. This poses several logistical challenges, including managing the hardware itself and the conditions of the datacenter environment, which is forcibly limiting your ability to scale. However, with Azure, you can achieve the following:
- Real-time load balancing for upwards or downwards scaling
- Predictive analytics for managing both capacity and cost
- Simple options for optimizing your database
Many organizations migrate from SQL Server to Azure for the flexibility of the cloud, and one of the main justifications for doing so is the enormous opportunity to scale at the drop of a hat.
Also Read: Right Time to Migrate your SQL Server to Azure
Functionality
A common concern for many companies considering cloud migration is whether any solution will offer the same functionality they have enjoyed before migrating. Luckily, since SQL Server and Azure are both Microsoft products, they overlap seamlessly. As a current SQL Server user transitioning to Azure, you will still be able to perform familiar operations:
- Application benchmarking
- Data mining from connected applications
- Scripting with the same programming languages
Notwithstanding the many features mutually supported by SQL Server and Azure, it is important to acknowledge that not everything is supported between the two. Since customization is so important to the success of your migration, a conversation about substantial differences between SQL Server and Azure will be best addressed by our migration experts, who can partner with you to ensure you are maximizing value from your database solution.
Interoperability
Knowing you will be able to scale appropriately without sacrificing functionality should go a long way in reassuring you of the power of Azure, but another important consideration is its ability to communicate well with all your applications and possibly even other cloud platforms (such as AWS).
Microsoft is highly committed to interoperability as a fundamental principle of product design (which is reflected in their formal corporate statement on interoperability). In fact, the emphasis on interoperability is so great with Azure that, depending upon your business needs, it may even be advisable for you to consider a hybrid cloud scenario. In this configuration, you would migrate your data partially to Azure while maintaining your own local datacenter.
In any event, Azure will enable you to stay connected with the many apps and services you use to run your business.
Partnering with Trianz for a Successful Migration
Hopefully, this post has revealed to you that migrating from SQL Server to Azure is not as complex as it may seem. Our Azure migration specialists have years of experience helping clients in many verticals approach the task of migration. We can help you do the same.
Our value proposition extends well beyond the actual event of migration; we offer on-site consulting and can even provide support with change management and documentation. With Trianz, you can do what may seem impossible to do on your own, and you can do it with confidence that comes from working with a trusted, certified Azure partner.
