High-level Steps for Migrating from Amazon Web Services

Previous section: Mapping of Amazon Web Services resources to Rackspace resources

This article provides a high-level overview of the steps to perform to migrate your applications to Rackspace Cloud from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Preparation

Based on your existing AWS instance size and configuration, select an equivalent size and scope for the Rackspace Cloud Servers instance to provision. Also, list the resources that you want to migrate, including application and database resources.

Provision and Configure the Cloud Servers Instance

Depending on the size of your existing AWS instance and OS, select an equivalent instance type and follow the steps to provision a new instance on Rackspace Cloud Servers. You can find a list of equivalent instances in the equivalent instance types list.

Install Software Packages

Install the required applications on your newly provisioned Rackspace Cloud Servers instance.

Migrate Data

After you back up your data on your AWS instance, use one of the following methods to transfer your data from AWS to your cloud server. You can do this in a number of ways:

• AWS CLI S3

  Use AWS CLI S3 to copy https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv1.html.

  aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/

  This method is the recommended method for migrating your data to your cloud server. Using this method, you install Swift on your AWS instance and directly copy your data from AWS to Cloud Files, without downloading it locally.

• rsync

  You can use rsync to tunnel between your two instances and transfer your data. The other methods listed here, however, have you create backups in Cloud Files so that you can always return to them.

• Install a GUI Tool on Your Local Computer

  In certain cases, you need to install a GUI tool, such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client application, to upload the data on Cloud Files. An example is if your cloud server is Windows®-based. Several open-source and free tools exist, and they are described in detail within each migration scenario in this document.

• Use the Cloud Control Panel to Upload Files

  The Cloud Control Panel enables you to upload data from your local computer to the server instance. This method is useful for situations in which you do not want to install additional software for data transfer. However, we do not recommend downloading your data locally because it is not the most secure option.

After you upload data to Cloud Files, download and restore the data on your cloud server.

Configure

Make any necessary configuration changes for your application and database.

Test After Migration

• Implement monitoring and backup solutions and focus on enhancing security.
• Thoroughly test the applications deployed on your cloud server.