Even though the pandemic accelerated the pace of cloud migration, companies had already anticipated the shift. Adopting cloud-based technologies is a strategic move that offers several advantages. As opposed to on-premise infrastructure, the cloud provides a more efficient and secure way to scale operations according to rising demand. It’s much more cost-effective and plays a crucial role in the digital transformation of organizations. After migrating to the cloud, companies witness enhanced operating efficiency, better customer experience, cost savings, and tighter cybersecurity.
94% of all enterprises use some form of cloud services, with 48% of businesses storing critical data on the cloud. Data storage is one of the top priorities of companies looking to shift to the cloud.
But migrating to the cloud from an on-premise setup isn’t easy. It’s a long and tedious process wherein even minor errors can cascade into major issues down the line. Failure to move data and applications properly can result in high-risk situations such as server failure, forced downtime, and database errors. Without proper cloud migration testing, this is a genuine possibility.
Read on to learn more about cloud migration testing and its biggest challenges. We’ll also discuss how you can augment your migration strategy with test automation to mitigate associated risks.
What is Cloud Migration Testing?
Cloud migration refers to transferring databases, applications, and IT services to the cloud from on-premise infrastructure. The testing and QA teams’ job is to ensure that this transfer is accurate, with no data losses occurring along the way. They also need to ensure that the moved applications continue working as expected in a cloud environment. All of this requires extensive testing.
Cloud migration testing is a collection of tests and processes that ensure organizations mitigate the risk of losing critical functionalities in their databases and applications while shifting to the cloud from on-premise.
Cloud migration testing must cover two crucial avenues.
● Database migration
This refers to shifting all the data from an on-premise database to one on the cloud. Most database migrations are lift and shift migrations. The data structure remains the same; only the data type changes. However, there is one big challenge that testing teams face here. Not only do they need to test the data across all necessary platforms, but they also need to test for several years worth of collected data.
The most common tests are schema compare, row count, data comparison, and data aggregation.
● Application migration
Applications can start glitching if not appropriately tested after being shifted to the cloud. Start and response times can slow down, performance can dip during peak hours, and usability on different platforms can decline. It’s crucial to test applications while accommodating the cloud’s scalability, new integrations, and additional dependencies.
The most common tests for application migration deal with functional validation, performance, and integration.
What are the Biggest Challenges While Migrating to the Cloud?
The most common cloud migration challenges are:
● Testing across systems
When working across systems, the data and applications must deliver similar cross-platform performance without glitches. Testing this can take very long.
● Large volumes of data
Most organizations have decades worth of data stored on-premises. Based on its value, most of it needs to be transferred to the cloud. Validating millions of rows of data to deem the migration successful is laborious and error-prone.
● Inability to identify issues
Since these tests are lengthy and tedious, errors are bound to creep in. Moreover, errors found during the last stages of the migration will be costly to correct.
● Delays in test creation and execution
Cloud migration is an urgent need. With such a long testing cycle, companies spend more time, money, and human resources than initially assigned.
How Does Test Automation Help?
Using test automation during cloud migration testing can help mitigate these challenges and the associated risks. It can improve test coverage, shorten the testing cycle, identify bugs earlier, and free up the critical workforce for more cognitive tasks. Using the right test automation solution is the key.
Avo Assure is a robust no-code test automation solution that can aid your migration process. It has cross-platform and parallel testing capabilities to ensure you test every scenario in a shorter time frame. Moreover, the 1500+ keyword library ensures that even business users can build and deploy tests with just a few clicks. With intelligent visual reporting, you get unmatched visibility across all the critical metrics, arming you with the correct data to make quick decisions.
Schedule a demo today to learn more about the positive impact Avo Assure can have on your cloud migration journey.
