Hi Azure friends,
Costs are an omnipresent topic. No matter what industry you are in. For this reason, I often ask myself when it comes to costs in Azure (explicitly for virtual machines), why not use the Azure Migrate tool. Sure, the Azure price calculator is also a great tool. It gives you a first overview of the costs. In combination with Azure Migrate, the costs can be calculated even better.
Again and again I am asked the following question. What is the cost of the migrated virtual machine in Azure? I ask then have you already used Azure Migrate for the cost calculation? The answer: No, we don't want to migrate right away, but we want to compile the costs first. I then ask again...have you used Azure Migrate for the cost calculation. Many people don't know that Azure Migrate can also be used to calculate costs without having to migrate right away.
The next question that often needs to be answered is what VM size do I need to select for the migrated machine. I then ask again have you deployed Azure Migrate yet...and again this is answered with "no". Exactly the same with: "does the system work in Azure when migrated" (Azure Ready) and again I ask the same question (OK, I won't write it again now ;-).
First of all, in this link you will find all the information about Azure Migrate. Very important, creating a project in Azure Migrate does not generate additional costs.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/migrate/migrate-services-overview
Let's take a closer look at Azure Migrate with an example. I have a local test environment based on Hyper-V. Now I want to know what the costs would be if I migrate, are the systems Azure ready and what VM size should I plan for the migrated systems. Let's rock n' roll.
I logged into the Azure Portal and started Azure Migrate.
Click on "Discover, asses and migrate" if you want to create a project.
I had already created a project. If I want to create a new one I have to click "change". A new blade appears.
Now click on the link "click here" so you can create a new project. The first step is now to perform the discovery. All steps are super described.
Take enough time to set everything up. Once you have set up the virtual appliance (this is the system that examines your on-premises infrastructure), wait a few days to create the assessment in Azure. The more time you give the system, the more accurate the result will be. I strongly believe that you can set up the assessment in the Azure portal without my guidance. I will now show you the result of my assessment in a shortened way.
The "Confidence rating" is very positive.
With a next click on the assessment I already get first great results!
Now I also know which VM Size I have to plan. I also know if the systems are Azure ready.
And the best thing at the end, I know what costs I have to expect!
We have only seen "half" of Azure Migrate. I haven't written anything about migrating, yet (I'll do that in another article). But what I really wanted to show you is how helpful the Discover and Assessment section in Azure Migrate can be. I hope I succeeded in doing this?
I am absolutely aware that this was nothing spectacular at all. But I really wanted to share a few experiences with you.
I hope this article was useful. Best regards, Tom Wechsler
