IT Insights by Julian Rouse

Migrating over 100 virtual machines (VMs) from on-premise infrastructure to Microsoft Azure is a monumental task that involves careful planning, strategic decision-making, and meticulous execution. This blog will explore the challenges of such a migration, guiding you through the process from the initial considerations to the final tests before rolling out to production. We’ll also discuss how incorporating auto-scaling and load balancing can optimize your cloud environment. 1. Initial Considerations: The First Thought Before diving into the migration, it’s crucial to understand the reasons behind the move and what you aim to achieve. Common motivations include reducing on-premise infrastructure costs, improving scalability, or enhancing disaster recovery capabilities. However, the sheer scale of migrating 100+ VMs requires a detailed assessment of your existing environment. Assessment and Inventory : Start by taking a complete inventory of your VMs, including their configurations, dep...

When it comes to deploying a multi-tier application infrastructure in Azure, selecting the right deployment strategy can make all the difference in the efficiency and maintainability of the project. In this blog, I’ll walk you through the different ARM template options, using a real-world project I’m currently working on for a client. We'll explore the pros and cons of single, linked, and nested templates, and how I utilized these strategies to create a robust deployment pipeline. We’ll also dive into the decision-making process behind choosing incremental versus complete deployments, and why keeping resource groups clean is crucial for cost management. Single Template vs. Linked Templates vs. Nested Templates ARM templates offer several options for structuring your deployment: Single Template Deployment : This approach involves defining all resources in one large template. While simple to implement for smaller projects, it can become unwieldy and difficult to manage as the complex...