Moving Microsoft Windows Workloads to Public Cloud

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1 PATHFINDER REPORT Moving Microsoft Windows Workloads to Public Cloud MARCH 2017 COMMISSIONED BY COPYRIGHT RESEARCH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2 About this paper A Pathfinder paper navigates decision-makers through the issues surrounding a specific technology or business case, explores the business value of adoption, and recommends the range of considerations and concrete next steps in the decision-making process. About 451 Research 451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group Research, LLC and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The terms of use regarding distribution, both internally and externally, shall be governed by the terms laid out in your Service Agreement with 451 Research and/or its Affiliates. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. 451 Research disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although 451 Research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, 451 Research does not provide legal advice or services and their research should not be construed or used as such. 451 Research shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. NEW YORK 20 West 37th Street New York, NY SAN FRANCISCO 140 Geary Street San Francisco, CA LONDON Paxton House (Ground floor) 30, Artillery Lane London, E1 7LS, UK P +44 (0) BOSTON One Liberty Square Boston, MA

3 I. Executive summary Data from 451 Research shows that a majority of enterprise workloads will be deployed to the cloud by 2018, outpacing on-premises non-cloud deployments for the first time. This shift is being driven in particular by adoption of both infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Our recent cloud workloads study found that the business case for moving to the public cloud was most frequently built on the benefits of reducing the internal management burden; increasing scalability and the ability to meet peak demands; reducing hardware costs; and improving business agility. We find that workloads with high user demand in multiple locations at different times are particularly well suited for the public cloud. These type of workloads, frequently based on Windows Server, can recognize additional benefits from the cloud by reducing software license administration and management, integrating Microsoft Active Directory with advanced security services offered in select public clouds, and improved application performance, particularly when Windows workloads are colocated in a public cloud environment alongside transactional platforms such as retail and e-commerce. These benefits depend in large measure on the selection of the optimal public cloud partner. Windows Server operating systems and associated workloads have already been massively deployed to multiple public cloud services, and Microsoft has been fully supporting this approach for years. It is a well-tested and well-understood method of operation. To ensure success, we recommend that customers perform a detailed requirements assessment of the Windows workloads they plan to shift to the cloud in order to ensure they select the optimal cloud solution to meet the requirements of each workload. II. What workloads are being moved to the cloud, and why? The rapid migration of workloads to cloud platforms is an obvious testimonial to the multilayered benefits realized by early cloud adopters. Nearly 80% of some 700 organizations we polled said that placing workloads in the cloud would boost their ability to respond to shifting business needs. According to the findings of our Voice of the Enterprise: Cloud Workloads and Key Projects 2016 survey, the volume of workloads deployed to all cloud models will expand from 40% to 57% in just two years a 42.5% gain. The largest increases will be in deployments to public cloud environments, with SaaS workload deployments growing from 12.3% to 19.5%, and IaaS deployments doubling from 5.8% to 12% of all workloads. Both hosted private clouds and on-premises private clouds showed more modest gains (see Figure 1). 3

4 Figure 1: Percentage of Workloads Running in the Cloud SaaS IaaS 12.3% 5.8% 19.5% Hosted Private Cloud On-premises Private Cloud 7.7% 13.9% 12.0% 10.9% OVERALL CLOUD USAGE: 40% of Workloads Today 60% in Two 15.0% Non-Cloud 60.3% 42.6% Today (n=703) In Two (n=692) Regarding the question of what types of workloads will be migrating to the cloud, the short answer is virtually all of them, to varying degrees. So rapid is the movement of certain workloads to the cloud that within two years, nearly three-quarters of all /collaboration workloads such as Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange and two-thirds of web/media workloads will have been deployed to the cloud. This is significant growth: the volume of /collaboration workloads placed into public cloud environments will increase by 62.5%, while web/media workload placements will increase by 54% (see Figure 2). Meanwhile, application development workloads will also beat an aggressive path to the cloud, such that 53% of these workloads will be cloud-based in two years. Deployments of app/dev workloads to the cloud will jump from 37% to 54% of total workloads. 4

5 Figure 2: Workloads Differ by Environment Source: 451 Research, Voice of the Enterprise Cloud Computing: Workloads and Key Projects 2016 % OF WORKLOADS 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 28% 12% 14% 46% 45% 18% 10% 27% 8% 6% 12% 13% 11% 17% 20% 17% 18% 21% 30% 12% 30% 14% 13% 34% 13% 15% 13% 18% 15% 61% 63% 56% 52% 47% 40% 34% 30% 19% 12% 38% 6% 11% 14% 70% 12% 19% 16% 52% Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Off-premises Cloud On-premises Private Cloud Non-Cloud 0% & Collaborative Web & Media Data & Analytics Application Development Business Applications Shared IT 5

6 III. Potential benefits of migrating Windows workloads to public cloud In addition to the general benefits of moving enterprise workloads to the cloud, there are expansive benefits to moving Windows workloads, both to IT and the business, such as: Flexibility and scale Security Performance Management and monitoring License administration and management Software interoperability At 451 Research, we believe that public cloud in general can be an excellent platform for workloads that touch a lot of users in multiple locations at different times. Many Windows workloads fit this description. FLEXIBILITY AND SCALE The public cloud offers flexibility and scale that cannot be efficiently delivered in on-premises environments. For Microsoft.NET developers and application teams, the major benefits lie in freeing both developers and administrators from traditional resource constraints and shortening time-to-market for business applications. In moving Windows workloads to the public cloud, application and development teams can immediately leverage features such as load balancing, high availability with multi-availability zone deployments, and compute and storage capacity that can scale up and scale down automatically. For instance, public cloud removes the administration headaches of figuring out who gets to use the on-premises compiler or who is hoarding compute resources. Administrators also need not worry about developers overloading systems and networks with.net test workloads. In essence, public cloud allows.net developers to work unimpeded without inflicting harm on internal systems, while administrators still maintain full audit and accounting control of developer activities. For.NET development teams, public cloud effectively abstracts the challenges with availability of highly flexible infrastructure that is so vital to speedy development. For the business, this agility and flexibility gained from public cloud can translate into faster time-to-market for business-critical applications. SECURITY Securing the on-premises infrastructure comes at a significant cost and productivity burden, and it requires expertise that is difficult for many enterprises to acquire either internally or through third-party solutions. Public cloud environments provide the highest levels of physical and network security. The best public clouds also offer a deep and broad set of additional security features such as encryption, compliance auditing, identity management and access control, as well as advanced configuration and security management services. Organizations must still take extensive measures to protect their applications and data, even if they can be assured that infrastructure and services in the cloud are secure. As public cloud security relates to Windows workloads specifically, public cloud providers have robust, role-based identity and access management (IAM) capabilities, which reduces risk by protecting, segregating and enabling the monitoring of user access in multi-perimeter environments so common today. When this solution is paired with Active Directory, administrators can easily drill down more deeply to gauge what users are doing, discover their locations, and determine what other computers and systems are trying to communicate with them, which helps ease administrative burdens. Organizations should look for a cloud provider that can deliver broad and deep security capabilities that manage every aspect of security, including encryption, identity and access control, configuration, compliance and auditing. In particular, organizations can improve the overall security posture of their Windows workloads by choosing a cloud vendor with management tools that provide an inventory of all the resources used in the cloud, track and manage changes to those resources over time, and can also provide deep visibility into API calls including who, what, when and where calls were made. 6

7 PERFORMANCE From a performance perspective, moving many Windows workloads to the public cloud can bring immediate benefits in cases where major business transaction environments such as e-commerce and other customer-facing applications already reside in the cloud. For example, colocating SQL Server workloads closer to the data the workloads are crunching (in the public cloud), and therefore closer to customers, can enhance the customer experience by speeding up transactions. Vital seconds gained in, say, processing an online shopping cart could spell the difference between a customer completing a transaction and simply clicking off because the application takes too long to process the transaction. Of equal importance is the depth of performance capabilities that a cloud provider s infrastructure can bring. Organizations should look for cloud providers that offer an extensive set of compute options they can map to their workload requirements. They should also look for advanced capabilities like load balancing and automatic load scaling, as well as storage options that allow for provisioning of IOPs (inputs/outputs per second) and throughput to meet workload profiles, and also enhanced networking capabilities to achieve high packet-per-second performance and/or low latency between compute instances. We recommend that organizations conduct proof-of-concept testing to compare the performance of different public clouds, as well as engaging with cloud providers and partners that can offer architectural reviews to ensure that cloud deployments are actually designed and operating for maximum performance and security, and are optimized for the most efficient usage of cloud resources. MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING Management and monitoring of Windows workloads continues to become easier, with some cloud providers offering Windows-specific management capabilities to collect and manage software inventory, apply Windows OS patches, manage system images and configure Windows OS versions. In addition, some cloud providers offer advanced tools to manage API calls, capture event logs, and collect and track service metrics that enable you to respond to changing conditions in your deployment. In addition, the availability of Active Directory (AD) services within some public cloud providers portfolios helps ease administrative burdens. The key benefits of a cloud-hosted AD environment are that the cloud provider offers patching, security updates, high availability and monitoring as part of the service, as well as ensuring compatibility with existing on-premises AD domains and forests. Customers that need to extend their AD domain across their on-premises applications and resources and their cloud applications have the choice of setting up a trust between their on-premises and cloud-hosted AD domains, or synchronizing identities and data across the directories. LICENSE ADMINISTRATION Changes to Windows platform components come fast and furious as often, if not more so, than with other computing platforms. For Windows administrators, this highly dynamic environment means burdensome license administration and management, a tedious operations chore that takes time away from more strategic staff work. Public cloud essentially abstracts this task, so what was once an annual or semiannual process of renewing software licenses (a significant capital outlay) and managing the distribution of those licenses is instead included in a monthly bill, not unlike an all-inclusive phone bill. SOFTWARE INTEROPERABILITY With the biggest public cloud providers, an ecosystem of partners can run well into the thousands, as can the various software packages and tools they make available to the providers clients. Collectively, this ecosystem represents a vast basket of goods that enterprises don t have to purchase, license and maintain. There is no procurement cycle because the tools and solutions are there from the start, and are upgraded and maintained by the ecosystem partners. This deeper functionality of the public cloud offering translates into far less operational overhead for administrators, freeing up time for more strategic endeavors. 7

8 IV. Considerations for selecting a public cloud provider for Windows workloads There is no shortage of public cloud service providers vying for enterprise attention today, and most major cloud providers offer the ability to run Windows workloads. Enterprise IT should proceed with caution and purpose in making a vendor selection, which includes some key considerations. Depth of services and complexity of interactions Essentially the question to ask in this regard is: How many things can we do with this service that we cannot do ourselves as easily and effectively with on-premises infrastructure, and how will this platform help us evolve over time? In other words, can you prove that a given cloud platform has the deepest and most valuable set of capabilities not only for your current Windows workloads, but for your future needs as well? Organizations should also consider the direction their business is headed. Is the cloud provider selected able to deliver the depth of services required to help modernize workloads, reduce overall licensing costs, and increase the organization s competitiveness? Experience of public cloud provider in hosting Windows workloads There is no substitute for domain-specific experience. Providers being considered for hosting Windows workloads should be able to easily demonstrate this experience. Look for data that attests to the provider s capabilities in key areas of performance and overall management of Windows workloads in a public cloud. Other key data to review includes information on high availability and overall reliability. And of course a record of providing transparency and responsiveness in security matters for data stored on the provider s servers is essential. No provider should make claims of protecting customer data at all times, because the user is responsible for their own applications. But surely users should be 100% confident that the provider s core infrastructure cannot be compromised (nor has it) or physically infiltrated in a potentially catastrophic way. That s where data and server redundancy loom large. Global presence As stated earlier, public cloud can particularly benefit the types of workloads that touch a lot of users in multiple locations at different times. This implies global ubiquity of public cloud services. While most providers may claim such ubiquity, the degree to which they provide it will vary. If an enterprise s operations are spread across scores of countries, look for a provider with a proven customer base in all the major areas of operations, if not in all countries and regions where the enterprise operates. High availability and performance To ensure that business-critical, latency-sensitive workloads such as SQL Server databases can achieve high availability, look for a cloud provider that can simply and cost-effectively offer synchronized commits across separate facilities with distinct power grids, flood planes and Internet backbones. Low-impact management and monitoring Public cloud providers offer a range of management and monitoring capabilities. Look for a cloud provider that offers administrators simple commands and parameters to catalyze various outcomes such as patch management, notifications, or provisioning and de-provisioning capacity, without using any extra applications, VMs or resources. In this scenario, the commands and parameters are entered directly into the cloud management console. With the more advanced offerings, administrators can fine-tune load-balancing requirements or application performance, or can set up alerts all without the need for APIs or script writing. These services are built in as part of the public cloud environment, and in some cases they offer support for management of on-premises deployments as well as hybrid cloud deployments. Scale and depth of partner ecosystem In signing on with a public cloud provider, an enterprise is also aligning itself with the platform and solutions vendors that have allied with that provider. Generally speaking, the bigger and broader this vendor ecosystem, the more options available to the enterprise for extracting the most value from its Windows workloads. The major value for Windows administrators is the ability to quickly discover, purchase and deploy software through an online marketplace that simplifies software licensing and streamlines procurement cycles by providing pay-as-you-go access to software and unified billing. It is therefore important for enterprises to focus on cloud providers that include a deep and broad set of validated Windows partners. Proven record of success in hybrid cloud environments As illustrated in Figure 3, interoperability among private and public clouds is of paramount importance to enterprises. In the hybrid world, enterprises have heterogeneous environments in which the delivery of complex business outcomes across the different cloud environments is seamless. Customers should look for a range of hybrid cloud capabilities that span networking, storage, security and management capabilities leveraging a single unified approach. Public cloud providers vary in their delivery of hybrid cloud capabilities, with some offering embedded capabilities at little or no incremental costs, while others may require a substantial investment in infrastructure. So customers should be careful to evaluate cloud solutions for both the capabilities offered and the investment that may be required. 8

9 Figure 3: Cloud Interoperability Q: Has your organization configured any of the following clouds for interoperability for the seamless delivery of a business function? n=462 On-premises Private cloud with a Public cloud 31.0% On-premises Private cloud with a Hosted Private cloud 30.5% Hosted Private cloud with a Public cloud 21.0% None of the Above 38.1% Source: 451 Research, Voice of the Enterprise: Cloud, Workloads and Key Projects 2016 V. The 451 Take While there are clear benefits to moving various workloads to the public cloud (agility, performance, scale and so on), we believe there are unique and compelling benefits to moving Windows workloads to the public cloud specifically. If there is a common theme among these Windows workload advantages, it is the additional, often significant, time that administrators gain when leveraging the Windows-specific capabilities of some cloud providers. These benefits include: Improved scalability and flexibility that leads to better business agility Improved security posture for business-critical applications Improved performance of business and enterprise workloads Improved management and monitoring of infrastructure, resources and applications Improved management of cumbersome license administration through marketplace offerings and a broad partner ecosystem Improved business agility Administrators and mid-level IT managers are always clamoring for more time to spend on strategic endeavors that advance the cause of the business. Here is an opportunity to do exactly that. Organizations should choose their cloud provider very carefully because there are pros and cons associated with each of the major cloud providers currently offering Windows workload hosting. We recommend that enterprises perform a thorough assessment of the benefits of each cloud provider based on specific workload requirements to ensure the best solution. Organizations do need to consider that a thorough housecleaning may be required before moving these workloads to public cloud. But we believe these efforts to make Windows workloads cloud-ready can pay handsome dividends as organizations seek to fully digitize their operations over the next several years. 9