Further to my earlier post, I was questioned on the migration from IBM SmartCloud Enterprise to the IBM SoftLayer cloud environment. I thought surely it is important to have this information readily available. Yes, it indeed is!
I am blogging my understanding on this migration activity just to verify from my side that customers would be comfortable with the process. I find the process to be quite straight forward and uncomplicated, nothing which should bring concern to customers.
There are strong reasons for recommending this migration to SCE customers. Customers will have One portal, one API, one platform with the stability, support and trust you have always received through your relationship with IBM. As a SoftLayer customer, gains are :
Unmatched flexibility, customization and control for Internet-scale applications with 1600+ functional calls and 200+ services
Unparalleled speed with integrated high-performance bare metal and virtualized servers in public, private or hybrid cloud configurations
Flexibility to take advantage of a wide range of storage, network and security options
Ability to create Internet-scale distributed compute environments in minutes and control through a single management system via API, browser or mobile app
Per the migration web link, ‘On 8 July 2013, IBM® announced the acquisition of SoftLayer, the industry’s only seamlessly unified global cloud computing infrastructure. Security, scalability, and on-demand access to virtual server and storage resources are important to IBM SmartCloud® Enterprise (SCE) customers. SoftLayer delivers global, high-performance cloud computing infrastructure able to support applications at Internet-scale. With SoftLayer’s global cloud environment, you can have it all: One portal, one API, and one platform with the stability, support, and trust you have always received through your partnership with IBM. IBM is encouraging all SmartCloud Enterprise customers and partners to migrate eligible workloads to the SoftLayer cloud environment. To assist in this migration, IBM is providing the use of a fast and easy migration tool to streamline the process. In addition, the IBM team has created a set of information and education resources to help you with your transition to SoftLayer. If you need additional support, contact an IBM representative at Migr8Me@us.ibm.com.’
There a testing or sandbox area where customers can validate their workload under SoftLayer. SoftLayer offers a one month free trial on one CloudLayer Computing public cloud instance. Remember that an instance migration from SCE to SoftLayer may cause service disruption. Although the original SCE instance should remain active during the entire migration process, we recommend that you take appropriate precautions and backup methods.
One option for the migration is to use Racemi CloudPath. Racemi Cloud Path for IBM is a no charge [ See T&C ], Software as a Service (SaaS) tool that enables customers to quickly and easily migrate their existing physical, virtual, or SmartCloud Enterprise cloud servers to IBM’s SoftLayer CloudLayer platform in an automated, unattended way. With Racemi Cloud Path for IBM, you can now automatically move your existing IBM SmartCloud Enterprise (SCE) servers to the new SoftLayer platform and experience minimal downtime of your existing SCE workload. Cloud Path for IBM provides an automated cloud instances migration process that moves the entire server stack to the new SoftLayer environment in a few easy-to-follow steps, without the need to make additional setting changes on the SCE servers.
The article on getting started on the migration, documents crystal clear and easy 10 steps –
1) Analyze your current SCE usage, including items such as operating systems, VM sizes, persistent storage requirements, reserved IP addresses, applications and services used.
2) Read & Understand Migrating VM instances from SCE to SoftLayer using Racemi Cloud Path service.
3) Read Mapping SCE VM sizes to equivalent configurations in SoftLayer and Mapping IBM SmartCloud Enterprise service names, terms, and concepts to SoftLayer to help you understand differences between SCE and SoftLayer.
4) Identify which of your workload VMs you wish to migrate.
5) Identify your workloads that can be migrated using the Racemi tool and those that must use another method.
6) Create accounts in SoftLayer and Racemi.
7) Migrate your workloads.
8 ) Test and validate your migrated workloads on SoftLayer. Verify that your migration was successful using your normal testing methods.
9) Close your SCE account. This will avoid any unnecessary billing for SCE resources.
10) Send an email to migr8me@us.ibm.com if you have questions regarding migration to SoftLayer.
NOTE: Please do note that this post is only for informational purpose and NOT an advice or consultation for the migration activity. Please contact IBM representative at Migr8Me@us.ibm.com for any further queries, details or request for engagement for migration.
Maya Shenoi is an IT professional resident in Bangalore, India. She has varied interests including literature and movies.
Views are personal and not of any company mentioned in the blog posts. All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner of this site will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.
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