Embracing the multicloud advantage: a guide to replicating your app from AWS to Azure

A guide for AWS ISVs replicating or migrating to Azure Marketplace

As an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), listing your application on Azure Marketplace can significantly boost visibility and growth. For ISVs already on AWS Marketplace, replicating to Azure provides an exciting opportunity to reach a broader and more diverse customer base. We previously discussed the business advantages of replicating your app from AWS to Azure, which you can read here.

Either replicating or migrating from AWS to Azure is simpler when you understand the strengths and key architectural differences of each platform. This guide will cover the key phases of this type of project while highlighting differences to help you navigate a smooth transition.

You can also join ISV Success to get access to over $126K USD in cloud credits, AI services, developer tools and 1:1 technical consults to help you replicate your app and publish to Azure Marketplace.

Discovery and assessment phase: Laying the groundwork

The first phase of replicating or migrating your application from AWS Marketplace to Azure Marketplace is the discovery and assessment phase. This step allows you to thoroughly evaluate your current infrastructure and applications, identifying dependencies and opportunities to prepare you for a smooth and successful transition from AWS to Azure.

Key activities:

• Infrastructure and services evaluation: Understand the components that make up your current AWS environment. This includes:
  
  
  • Regions: When replicating from AWS to Azure Marketplace, choosing the right Azure region is key for performance, availability, and cost optimization. Azure offers 60+ regions, compared to AWS’s 30+. Ensure your selected region supports the services you need by checking product availability by region. Pick a region close to your customers to minimize latency and use Azure Traffic Manager for traffic optimization across regions. Also, consider compliance standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS, as some regions are designed to meet specific regulatory requirements. Finally, use the Azure Pricing Calculator to compare regional costs and ensure a cost-effective replication. Selecting the right region will ensure a smooth transition that meets performance and compliance needs.  Ensure that the services you plan to use from Azure Marketplace are available.
    
    
  • Servers: Assess the virtual machines (VMs) running your AWS Marketplace (EC2 instances) and map them to Azure Virtual Machines. While the names are similar, the underlying architecture, performance characteristics, price and region-specific availability may differ.
    
    
  • Storage: Replicating from Amazon S3 to Azure Blob Storage requires evaluating storage classes, data transfer rates, and costs. Azure Blob Storage integrates with various Marketplace solutions for big data, analytics, and AI. It's important to assess how your AWS solutions handle data and explore equivalent services or optimized transfer tools in Azure.
    
    
  • Networking: Networking is crucial when migrating from AWS Marketplace to Azure Marketplace. AWS uses VPCs, while Azure uses VNets. You'll need VNet Peering for internal communication, particularly across regions or environments. Configuring NSGs to manage traffic at the subnet or network interface level is essential for security. Secure connectivity via VPNs or ExpressRoute will ensure smooth interaction between on-premises and Azure, or across cloud environments, without compromising security.
    
    
  • Latency requirements: Evaluate the latency-sensitive components of your AWS application to ensure their Azure equivalents meet or exceed these requirements. Azure Marketplace solutions, such as edge computing or CDNs, can optimize latency and improve user experience during the transition.
    
    
  • Service mapping: Some AWS services don’t have direct Azure equivalents, offering an opportunity to explore more flexible solutions. For example, AWS Lambda maps to Azure Functions, with some configuration and capability differences that you can easily adapt to. EKS workloads can be migrated to AKS or ACA, depending on the workload type.
    
    
• Data and compliance assessment: Both platforms offer strong compliance frameworks, making this a great time to align your application with Azure’s security standards. While security protocols, encryption, and Identity Access Management (IAM) systems differ, Azure provides tools to help ensure a smooth and secure transition.
  
  
• Cost analysis: Both AWS and Azure offer flexible pricing models, and comparing their service offerings and resource allocations can help optimize costs. A detailed cost comparison will guide your financial decisions for a smooth, cost-effective migration. Consider costs for data transfer, storage, and networking, as these may differ from AWS Marketplace. Customers with specific consumption commitments may get the app for a lower price.  
  
  
• Pricing Models: Understanding different commercial marketplace pricing models that ISVs can offer to their customers is important for a sustainable business model. Azure supports various pricing offer types including recurring subscriptions, usage-based pricing and bring your own license (BYOL). Publishing to the Azure Marketplace storefront happens through the Microsoft commercial marketplace.

Design & planning phase: Creating a roadmap to replicate to Azure

Once you have completed the discovery phase, the design & planning phase follows. This phase focuses on creating a comprehensive replication or migration strategy, selecting the appropriate Azure services, and designing the architecture that will best support your application in Azure Marketplace.

Key activities:

• Service selection and architecture design: Mapping your AWS architecture to Azure requires careful consideration to select the right Azure services and marketplace solutions. For example, you can migrate from AWS ELB to Azure Load Balancer or Application Gateway, and from AWS RDS to Azure SQL Database or Azure Database for MySQL/PostgreSQL. Explore third-party solutions on Azure Marketplace for specialized needs.
  
  
• Choosing the right strategy: Based on your marketplace application needs, decide whether to employ a Lift & Shift (Rehost) or Re-platform (App Modernization) approach.

• Lift & shift: Moving your application "as-is" can be the quickest method to replicate your app to Azure but may not fully optimize your application for Azure’s capabilities.

• Re-platforming: This approach involves re-architecting parts of your application to fully leverage Azure’s powerful offerings, like AKS or Azure App Services, to enhance scalability, performance, and cost efficiency. While it may take a bit more time and resources, the long-term benefits are well worth it, offering exciting opportunities to delight your customers and boost your revenue.

• Service customization: Azure and AWS offer unique approaches to advanced services like serverless computing and container orchestration. For instance, while AWS uses Elastic Beanstalk for managed app deployments, Azure provides Azure App Services for web apps and APIs, along with AKS for containerized applications. By mapping these services to your app, you’ll ensure optimal performance and leverage Azure’s scalability and flexibility.
  
  
• Security and compliance: Azure offers unique security features, including Azure Security Center and Microsoft Entra ID for identity management. As you move to Azure Marketplace, you can integrate these services with your existing security solutions and adapt your IAM policies to leverage Azure’s RBAC. These tools will enhance protection and ensure a secure migration.
  
  
• Selecting pricing offers: In the design and planning phase, selecting the right pricing model is key to aligning with your business and customer needs. Azure supports recurring subscriptions, usage-based pricing, and BYOL. The ideal model depends on your app’s value and customer preferences—recurring subscriptions work for steady usage, while usage-based suits scalable apps. Understanding your audience helps choose a pricing structure that ensures satisfaction and business sustainability.

Environment set-up: Building your Azure landing zone

The environment set-up phase involves creating a landing zone in Azure that serves as the foundation for your replicated or migrated applications. This is a crucial step to ensure a smooth and secure migration.

Key activities:

• Network and connectivity configuration: Azure offers its own set of powerful network services that provide great flexibility, including VNet Peering, which is similar to AWS's VPC Peering for seamless inter-network connectivity. As you transition, you'll have the opportunity to fine-tune your setup by configuring subnets, firewall rules, and private link connections to ensure your Azure network performs optimally and securely, just as it did on AWS. This will help you maintain a smooth, high-performance experience in the Azure environment.
  
  
• Identity management: In AWS, IAM manages user access and permissions, while Azure uses Microsoft Entra ID for identity management. As you transition to Azure, you can integrate Entra ID with your existing setup, including third-party or federated identities, ensuring a smooth transition. Azure’s identity solutions help maintain secure and efficient user access management.
  
  
• Governance and compliance: Azure combines Azure Policy and Management Groups to manage governance and ensure compliance with internal and external standards. While AWS uses AWS Organizations and Service Control Policies (SCPs), Azure's approach offers flexibility and control in designing governance strategies. With careful planning, monitoring, and audits, you can confidently ensure compliance with industry standards, especially in sectors like government and healthcare, where regional and industry-specific compliance is crucial.

Replication/migration phase: Moving to Azure

The actual replication or migration of your application to Azure requires careful coordination. During this phase, you’ll use various tools and strategies to ensure that your services and data are securely and efficiently transferred.

Key activities:

• Data transfer: Migrating large datasets between AWS and Azure can be complicated, especially when moving data from S3 to Azure Blob Storage. The process involves using tools like AzCopy, Azure Data Box, or Azure Storage Migration Service, but data consistency and transfer speed can be issues, especially for large volumes of data or applications with stringent uptime requirements.
  
  
• Compute migration: Moving applications that run on AWS EC2 instances to Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) requires consideration of VM sizes, underlying OS support, and the region-specific availability of services. In some cases, you may encounter differences in the types of VMs available on Azure compared to AWS, which could lead to performance adjustments.
  
  
• Using Microsoft & third-party tools: Azure provides Azure Migrate and Azure Site Recovery, while third-party tools like CloudEndure can offer continuous replication of data for minimal downtime. These tools are essential for minimizing the risk of downtime and maintaining data integrity during migration.
  
  
• Pricing Set-up: Additionally, during the replication/migration phase, it’s important to set up your pricing plans in Azure Marketplace. You can use Partner Center to configure and manage your pricing structure, ensuring it aligns with the new environment and meets your customers' needs. This step is crucial for ensuring a seamless transition and continued revenue generation throughout the process.

Testing and cutover phase: Ensuring seamless transition

Once your application is replicated or migrated to Azure Marketplace, you must validate its functionality, performance, and security during the testing and cutover Phase.

Key activities:

• Functionality and performance testing: After replication/migration, conduct smoke tests to validate core functions like user authentication, network connectivity, and data integrity. Use Azure’s Application Insights and Azure Monitor to track post-migration performance.
  
  
• Addressing latency and performance issues: Differences in infrastructure between AWS and Azure, such as service provisioning and region-specific features, may cause latency or performance issues. It's crucial to conduct load testing and optimize Azure services to meet operational requirements.
  
  
• Security audits: Post-replication/migration, review your Azure security settings to ensure they align with your framework. Azure offers tools like Azure Security Center and flexible IAM approaches, making it easy to validate and adjust security for a smooth transition and continued protection.

Post-replication/migration optimization and support

The final step after completing the replication or migration involves optimizing and supporting the application on Azure. This is an ongoing process that requires monitoring, scaling, and addressing any issues that arise in the Azure environment.

Key activities:

• Monitoring: Azure offers tools like Azure Monitor and Azure Application Insights to help you keep track of your app’s performance. While similar to AWS CloudWatch, these tools are configured differently and may require adaptation to your monitoring setup.
  
  
• Cost management: With different pricing models, monitor your Azure usage post-migration in Azure Portal to stay within budget and adjust resources as needed. Partner Center offers anomaly detection to monitor your customers’ usage and ensure they are not overbilled.
  
  
• User support and documentation: Offer customer support to address any issues users face with the new Azure environment, and provide documentation tailored to Azure’s services and infrastructure.

Key resources:

• ISV Development Toolkit: Get cloud-ready reference code to replicate from AWS to Azure
• AWS to Azure - Service Mapping
• Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Get over $126K USD in benefits and technical consultations to help you replicate and publish your app with ISV Success.

Conclusion

Replication or migrating from AWS Marketplace to Azure Marketplace is an exciting opportunity for growth. With careful planning, execution, and support, ISVs can navigate differences in architecture, services, and operations between AWS and Azure. By embracing the discovery, design, replication/migration, and testing phases with clear strategies and informed decisions, ISVs ensure a smooth transition, unlocking Azure's full potential and expanding their reach on a globally recognized platform.