Review Azure migration recommendations
This article describes how to review cloud readiness information, and recommendations for migration to Azure, in the Movere portal.
By analyzing data from inventory and actual resource consumption scans, Movere calculates and recommends sizing, pricing, and storage requirements for migration to Azure.
Review Azure readiness
You can review cloud readiness information in Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure, as summarized in the table.
| Readiness | Summary |
|---|---|
| VM Sizing | Shows sizing recommendations, based on inventory and resource consumption data. |
| VM Pricing | Shows pricing recommendations, based on inventory and resource consumption data. |
| Storage Pricing | Shows storage recommendations, based on inventory and resource consumption data. |
Review VM sizing recommendations
There are a number of views that help you understand VM sizing requirements for migration to Azure.
Review VM sizing
In the Movere portal, open Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure\VM Sizing.
Review the settings for devices you want to migrate to Azure.
- Settings are summarized in the table below.
- The view shows recommendations based on inventory and resource consumption scans. Almost the same information is shown for both scan types, however, resource consumption scan based recommendations are based on performance data that's collected over time.
You can work with the view as follows:
- Click Sizing options to focus on a specific scan type, confidence rating, Enable B-series recommendation or specific region. Make sure you filter, because different data centers have different hardware profiles.
- Filter data with different options, including recommended Azure profile, recommended storage type, software tags, device operating system, and scan type.
- Get a summary of devices that are Azure ready, need remediation, or can't be migrated.
VM Sizing page settings
The VM Sizing page shows the information summarized in the table.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Device name/Operating system/Platform/Type | Basic device information. |
| Azure profile | Recommended Azure VM series/type. |
| Azure profile default vCPU | Shows the default CPU for the recommended Azure VM type. |
| Azure Profile Constrained vCPU | Resource consumption scanning only. Available for devices running SQL. The recommendation meets performance requirements for a device (CPU, RAM, IOPS, throughput), but shows constrained CPU count to optimize SQL licensing costs. |
| Azure Readiness | Shows if the device is ready for migration to Azure. |
| Processor model | Processor model for the device. |
| CPU/RAM/IOPS/throughput headroom | Headroom is the unused capacity of space to spare in CPU, RAM etc. The headroom field shows the extent to which the metric drives sizing recommendations. The higher the value, the more room there is to grow. For example, if a device has RAM at 3% headroom, CPU at 50% headroom, and IOPS at 60% headroom, the critical factor on the device is RAM. Thus memory requirements set the bar for the type of Azure VM that's recommended. As you refine settings manually, you can look across results at low and high numbers, and consider trade ups and downs. IOPS and throughput headroom is available for resource consumption scanning only. |
| Software tags | Shows software installed on a device that has a potential impact in the sizing recommendation. If IIS or SQL Server is installed on a device, Movere doesn't recommend an A-series VM, because the series doesn't support Premium storage. |
Review VM pricing recommendations
In the Movere portal, open Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure\VM Pricing.
On the VM Pricing page, review Azure pricing information, based on your view in VM Sizing.
Modify the view as follows:
- Click Sizing options to focus on a specific scan type, confidence rating, Enable B-series recommendation or specific region. Make sure you filter, because different data centers have different hardware profiles.
- In Pricing options, you can filter and compare costs across Pay As You Go programs, and compare one-year/three-year upfront reserved pricing.
- Click Constrained CPU, to filter on cost-effective CPU recommendations for machines running SQL.
Review storage pricing recommendations
Storage pricing shows pricing pulled from Azure, so that you have the most accurate pricing information when evaluating Azure readiness.
- In the Movere portal, open Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure\Storage Pricing.
- On the Storage Pricing page, review Azure storage and pricing information.
- Click Pricing options to focus on a specific scan type, confidence rating, or specific region. Make sure you filter, because different data centers have different hardware profiles.
Review utilization
In addition to the sizing and storage recommendations, we recommend that you also review the underlying data that has been utilized to provide these recommendations as follows:
| Location | Details |
|---|---|
| ARC\Windows & Linux\CPU Utilization by Process | Shows CPU utilization for processes. You can filter to see both average and maximum CPU utilization. |
| ARC\Windows & Linux\Memory Utilization by Process | Shows memory utilization for processes. You can filter to see both average and maximum memory usage. |
| ARC\Windows & Linux\Disks Utilization | In graphical format, view disk utilization, write/read numbers, concurrent bits read and written (MB per second), and IOPS. You can filter on disk utilization and other settings. |
| ARC\Landscape\Device Summary | Get information about average CPU, RAM, disks IOPS and throughput, and network traffic for devices. This view also shows the number of days for which resource consumption scan data was collected at the device level. |
| ARC\Landscape\Storage Summary | Get graphical information of storage used and available on devices. |
| ARC\Landscape\Device IOPS Summary | See a graphical representation of IOPS. Remember that for IOPS exceeding 500, or throughput greater than 60 MB a second, Premium storage is recommended. This view incorporates environment tags. This is useful. For example, if a device is tagged as a development box with Premium storage, and it's not in use, you can reduce expenditure. |
VM sizing criteria
Movere makes sizing recommendations based on data collected by inventory and resource consumption scanning, as summarized in the tables.
Inventory data
Movere recommends an Azure VM size based on this inventory data.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Compute | Movere multiples the number of device cores by the unthrottled single-threaded compute capacity of the chip for the device. |
| Memory | Movere uses memory allocated on a device. |
| IIS/SQL installation | Movere checks whether IIS/SQL Server is installed on a device. If so, Movere doesn't recommend an A-series VMs for the device, because these VM types don't support Premium storage. |
Resource consumption data
Movere recommends an Azure VM size based on this resource consumption data.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| CPU | Actual CPU performance and use over time. |
| Memory | Actual RAM size and use over time. |
| Storage | Number of attached storage drives. Actual Devices IOPS and throughput over time. Whether a VM type can support the recommended storage disk (based on IOPS and throughput). If disk IOPS are more than 500 for a single ARCBeat, or throughput is great than 60 MB per second, Movere recommends Premium storage in Azure. |
| Networking | Number of attached NICs on a device. |
| Cost | Based on all the device needs, Movere assigns the profile with the lowest cost, using the latest pricing model pulled from Azure. |
Movere uses standard deviation, (rather than average), when recommending a size. For example, if a device CPU runs at 10% on average and based on resource consumption data, Movere determines that the average plus three standard deviations for CPU is 25% utilization, then sizing the machine at 25% of its current capacity will meet the needs of device users 99% of the time.
Storage criteria
Movere uses the criteria summarized in the tables to recommend target Azure storage.
| Data Source | Recommendation criteria |
|---|---|
| Inventory | Movere recommends lowest price storage SKU whose storage disk size is equal total on-prem provisioned storage for a device. |
| Resource consumption | Movere identifies actual used storage, IOPS and throughput, down to drive level and recommends the storage SKU which has the lowest price. If DiskSize > 32 TB or Throughput > 900 MBps or IOPS > 20000, then Ultradisk storage is recommended. Ultradisk storage is not recommended if the disk drive is a boot drive. If |
Azure readiness criteria
Movere determines that a device is "Azure ready" when it meets these conditions:
- The device is not a Hypervisor.
- The OS is Windows Server 2003 R2 or higher.
- The following to not exceed the maximum allowed per Azure VM:
- Disks (Max is 64)
- RAM (Max is 448 GB)
- NICs (Max is 8)
- The compute capacity does not exceed the maximum allowed in Azure, which is currently 32 cores of Intel Xeon E5-2698B v3 @ 2.00GHz.
Enable B-series Recommendation
Following are the steps that users need to follow to receive B-series VM SKU recommendation along with other VM SKUs during Movere assessment.
- Tag the VMs that you would like to assess for B-series VM profiles with pre-defined “B-series candidate” tag in the IO\Device Tagging section. Learn More on how to tag devices
- Navigate to Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure\VM Sizing report or Summary\Cloud Readiness\Azure\VM Pricing report
- In the Sizing Option, switch on the “Include B-series profiles” switch.
- The page will refresh automatically and the prices will be updated.
Note
- Only the VMs tagged with “B-series candidate” tag will be considered for B-series VM SKU along with other VM SKUs during Movere assessment.
- B-series VM profiles will be recommended only if 7 days or more of ARC data is collected.
- If a device doesn’t have 7 days of ARC data, then VM SKUs other than B-series are recommended.
- If a device is tagged as B-series candidate but the device workload cannot be sustained in a B-series VM, in such case VM SKUs other than B-series are recommended.
- Learn more about B-series VM profile.
Next steps
Review other data views.