📋 Overview

The Application Discovery Service (ADS) is the first step in migrating your workloads to AWS. It helps analyze your on-premises environment, identifying dependencies, resource usage, and configurations to streamline your migration journey.

Cloud migration is a strategic decision that requires proper planning, cost analysis, and infrastructure assessment before execution. This blog serves as a step-by-step guide to migrating workloads from an on-premises environment to AWS using Application Discovery Service (ADS).

📌 Follow the Detailed Documentation on GitHub

For in-depth step-by-step guidance on AWS migration using Application Discovery Service (ADS) and TCO analysis, refer to the full project documentation on GitHub.

🔗 GitHub Repository: AWS Migration Project

🔗 Watch the Project Video on YouTube

📄 Detailed Guides Include:
✅ Phase 1: AWS Application Discovery & TCO Analysis 📊
✅ Phase 2: Migration Planning & Execution 🚀
✅ Phase 3: Post-Migration Optimization & Scaling 📈

🌍 What is AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS)?

ADS is the first step in migrating workloads to AWS. It helps analyze on-premises infrastructure, identifying:
✅ Resource utilization (CPU, memory, storage, and networking).
✅ Application dependencies to ensure smooth transition.
✅ Right-sizing AWS infrastructure for cost optimization.

📌 Key Focus Areas of This Blog

1️⃣ Phase 1: Discovery & TCO Analysis

• Analyze on-premises workloads using ADS.

• Evaluate cost savings through a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis.

• Plan AWS infrastructure (EC2, RDS, Auto Scaling, Storage).

🌐 On-Premises Infrastructure Setup for AWS Migration

Before migrating workloads to AWS, it is crucial to understand the existing on-premises environment. This helps in determining infrastructure dependencies, resource utilization, and compatibility with AWS services. 🚀

🏢 On-Premises Setup Overview

🔹 Web Application Server

• Hosted on a local server running Apache or NGINX.

• Handles HTTP requests and serves dynamic/static content.

• Connected to the database server for backend processing.

🔹 Database Server

• Uses MySQL as the primary database.

• Stores application data, user information, and business transactions.

• Communicates with the web application over a local network.

🎉 Web Application UX – Online Banquet Booking System

A seamless user experience (UX) is the backbone of any successful online banquet booking system. Whether users are reserving banquet halls for weddings, corporate events, or private parties, the platform should be intuitive, responsive, and hassle-free.

Let’s explore the ideal UX flow for an Online Banquet Booking System and how it ensures a smooth journey for users. 🚀

🖥️ Key Features for an Intuitive UX

1️⃣ Home Page – First Impressions Matter! 🏡

• A visually appealing landing page with a search bar for quick venue lookup.

• High-quality images & videos showcasing banquet halls.

• Featured halls with ratings, price range, and capacity.

• Call-to-Action (CTA): “Find Your Perfect Venue” 🔎

2️⃣ Venue Search & Filtering 🔍

• Smart search with filters for:
  ✅ Location 📍
  ✅ Date & Availability 📅
  ✅ Capacity 🏢
  ✅ Budget 💰
  ✅ Amenities (WiFi, Parking, Catering) 🍽️

3️⃣ Venue Details Page 🏢

• Detailed descriptions of banquet halls with images, pricing, and amenities.

• Customer reviews & ratings ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Availability calendar to check open slots.

• A "Book Now" button for seamless reservations.

4️⃣ Seamless Booking Flow 🛒

• Step 1: User selects a date & time slot.

• Step 2: Chooses add-ons (catering, decoration, music, etc.) 🎶

• Step 3: Provides personal details & special requests.

• Step 4: Online payment integration 💳 (Stripe, PayPal, UPI).

• Step 5: Confirmation email & SMS 📩.

5️⃣ User Dashboard & Booking Management 🛠️

• Users can view, modify, or cancel bookings.

• Download invoices & event details 📜.

• Track upcoming reservations.

• Loyalty rewards & offers for repeat customers. 🎁

6️⃣ Admin Panel for Venue Owners 🏢

• Manage venue listings, pricing, and availability.

• Track customer bookings & payments.

• Generate reports on revenue & performance 📊.

🔍 Challenges with On-Premises Infrastructure

❌ High Maintenance Costs – Requires constant hardware upgrades and monitoring.
❌ Scalability Issues – Limited ability to scale resources dynamically.
❌ Security Risks – On-premises setups often require manual security configurations.
❌ Disaster Recovery Concerns – Risk of data loss without cloud backups or redundancy.

🔜 Next Steps: Migrating to AWS EC2 & RDS

With the AWS Application Discovery data analyzed, the next step is to migrate workloads to AWS efficiently. In Phase 2, we will:

✅ Choose the right EC2 instance types & storage
✅ Set up Auto Scaling & Load Balancers
✅ Optimize database migration with RDS or Aurora

💡 Why Migrate to AWS?

✅ Elastic Compute Scaling – Easily scale web servers using EC2 Auto Scaling.
✅ Managed Databases – Leverage Amazon RDS for automated backups and maintenance.
✅ High Availability – Deploy across multiple AWS Regions & Availability Zones.
✅ Lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) – Reduce upfront infrastructure costs.

🏗 What is AWS Application Discovery Service?

AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) helps enterprises automate the collection of on-premises system metadata before migrating workloads to AWS.

How AWS ADS Works

🔹 Scans on-premises servers and collects CPU, memory, storage, and network data.
🔹 Identifies application dependencies and usage patterns.
🔹 Provides insights for right-sizing AWS infrastructure post-migration.

AWS ADS supports two discovery methods:
1️⃣ Agent-Based Discovery (For deep-level data collection, including system processes).
2️⃣ Agentless Discovery (For VMware-based environments).

➡️ Detailed Documentation: AWS ADS Official Guide

---

🎯 Why Use AWS ADS for Migration?

✅ Comprehensive Data Collection: Automates server discovery and provides real-time metrics.
✅ Migration Planning: Helps identify dependencies and application workloads.
✅ Optimized AWS Resources: Right-size EC2 and RDS instances post-migration.
✅ Cost-Saving: Eliminates over-provisioning by analyzing actual resource usage.

⚙️ Pre-Requisites & Deployment

Before deploying AWS ADS, ensure the following:

🔹 1️⃣ Pre-Requisite Setup

✅ Configure IAM Roles & Policies for ADS to access on-premises servers.
✅ Verify network connectivity between your on-premises servers and AWS.
✅ Ensure your firewall rules allow ADS communication.

📄 Step-by-Step Guide: Pre-Requisite Setup

---

🔹 2️⃣ Deploy AWS ADS

🚀 Steps to deploy:
1️⃣ Install AWS Discovery Agent on on-premises servers.
2️⃣ Configure agent-based or agentless discovery (depending on your infrastructure).
3️⃣ Set up AWS Migration Hub to monitor discovery insights.
4️⃣ Verify ADS is collecting data from your on-premises workloads.

📄 Detailed Guide: AWS ADS Deployment

---

🎯 Key Benefits of AWS ADS

✅ 1. Data-Driven Migration Decisions

✔️ Collect real-time data on CPU, memory, and disk utilization.
✔️ Avoid assumptions and right-size AWS instances based on actual resource usage.

🔗 2. Application Dependency Mapping

✔️ Identify interconnected workloads that must be migrated together.
✔️ Reduce post-migration downtime and compatibility issues.

💰 3. Cost Optimization

✔️ Prevent over-provisioning AWS resources.
✔️ Ensure efficient workload placement based on real-world usage metrics.

📊 4. Faster Migration Planning

✔️ Reduce planning time using automated discovery insights.
✔️ Eliminate the need for manual infrastructure assessments.

🚀 Phase 1: AWS Application Discovery & TCO Analysis

Cloud migration is more than just moving workloads to the cloud. Understanding your existing infrastructure, dependencies, and costs is critical before making the move. In Phase 1, we leveraged AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) to analyze our environment and performed a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis to estimate the potential savings and efficiency improvements.

This blog walks you through the key steps, tools used, and what we achieved in this phase! 📊

---

📌 Key Steps in Phase 1

🔹 AWS Application Discovery & TCO Analysis

• 📄 Pre-Requisite: Setup Requirements

• 📄 Discovery Service Deployment: Collecting Data

• 📄 High-Level TCO Analysis: Cost Breakdown

• 📄 Complete AWS Migration Documentation

---

🔍 What We Achieved in Phase 1

✅ 1. Setting Up AWS Migration Prerequisites

📄 Discovery Service Deployment: Collecting Data

• Configured AWS Migration Hub to track migration progress 🌍.

• Created necessary IAM roles and permissions for secure access 🔐.

• Defined AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) setup to analyze infrastructure.

🛠 2. Deploying AWS Discovery Service

• Installed ADS Agents on Web and Database servers to collect system data 🖥️📊.

Data Collectors:

WebServer

Technical Information

Performance Information

DbServer

Technical Information

Performance Information

• Verified network dependencies, CPU utilization, memory usage, and active processes.

WebServer

DbServer

• Organized servers into Application Groups for better classification.

💰 3. High-Level TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis

• Compared on-premise costs vs. AWS projected costs across:

  • Compute (EC2 vs. on-prem servers) ⚙️

  • Storage (S3, EBS vs. local storage) 📦

  • Networking (AWS Data Transfer vs. existing network costs) 🌐

  • Database (AWS RDS vs. on-prem SQL/Oracle) 🗄️

• Identified potential cost savings and ROI for cloud migration 📉.

---

🛠️ Tools Used in This Phase

🔹 AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) – Collected system performance, network dependencies, and server data.
🔹 AWS Migration Hub – Centralized dashboard for tracking server inventory and migration status.
🔹 IAM (Identity and Access Management) – Created roles and permissions for secure access.
🔹 CloudTrail – Monitored activities and logs related to migration actions.
🔹 Application Groups – Used in Migration Hub to organize and manage servers efficiently.

---

📊 High-Level TCO Analysis for WebServer & DatabaseServer Migration to AWS

---

📋 Overview

As organizations migrate their Web Servers and Database Servers from on-premises infrastructure to AWS Cloud, performing a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis is crucial. This document evaluates the on-prem vs AWS cloud cost breakdown, helping decision-makers optimize costs, improve scalability, and enhance security.

✅ What This Guide Covers

• 📊 TCO breakdown of on-prem vs. AWS

• 💻 Recommended AWS services for Web & Database servers

• 💰 Projected cost savings and optimization strategies

For a detailed documentation on the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis, visit:

📄 📌 High-Level TCO Analysis Documentation

📌 Current On-Premises Infrastructure Overview

📌 Web Server Analysis (ip-10-0-1-82) 💻

🔹 Application: WebApp
🔹 OS: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
🔹 CPU: 1 vCPU (x86_64)
🔹 RAM: 1 GB
🔹 Storage: 8 GB SSD
🔹 Hypervisor: Xen
🔹 Network Interfaces: 1

Performance Metrics 📊

• CPU Usage: 0.35% 🖥️

• RAM Usage: 38.77% 💾

• Disk Reads: 1.59 KBPS 📥

• Disk Writes: 2.82 KBPS 📤

💡 Observations:
✅ CPU usage is minimal, meaning we don’t need a high-end instance.
✅ RAM consumption is moderate (38.77%), but might need an upgrade in production.
✅ Disk I/O is low, so an EBS gp3 volume would be a good fit post-migration.

🗄️ Database Server Analysis (ip-10-0-2-254)

🔹 Application: DatabaseServer
🔹 OS: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
🔹 CPU: 1 vCPU (x86_64)
🔹 RAM: 1 GB
🔹 Storage: 8 GB SSD
🔹 Hypervisor: Xen
🔹 Network Interfaces: 1

Performance Metrics 📊

• CPU Usage: 0.31% 🖥️

• RAM Usage: 43.34% 💾

• Disk Reads: 0.86 KBPS 📥

• Disk Writes: 1.79 KBPS 📤

💡 Observations:
✅ Low CPU utilization suggests no need for a compute-heavy instance.
✅ Higher RAM usage (43.34%) indicates potential memory constraints.
✅ Disk I/O is light, making gp3 SSD storage an optimal choice.

🛠️ Migration Considerations & Recommendations

Based on this performance analysis, here’s our recommended AWS migration plan:

🔹 EC2 Instance Sizing:

• Web Server → t3.micro (2 vCPU, 1GB RAM)

• Database Server → t3.small (2 vCPU, 2GB RAM) (Upgrade for better performance)

🔹 Storage Optimization:

• Use gp3 EBS volumes for both servers to balance cost and performance.

🔹 Auto Scaling:

• Configure AWS Auto Scaling to handle unexpected traffic spikes.

🔹 Database Optimization:

• Consider Amazon RDS for managed PostgreSQL/MySQL instead of self-managed DB.

📊 TCO Breakdown: On-Premises vs. AWS

💰 On-Premises Cost Estimate

☁️ AWS Cost Estimate (EC2 + RDS)

📉 TCO Savings Analysis

✅ AWS Migration reduces costs by ~85%
✅ Significant reduction in maintenance, networking, and power costs
✅ AWS RDS provides auto-scaling & automatic failover for databases

📌 Next Steps - How to Perform a Detailed TCO Analysis

Step 1: Identify Current Costs

📌 Analyze existing hardware, software, networking, maintenance, security costs.
📌 Calculate power, cooling, IT support, disaster recovery expenses.

Step 2: Map AWS Services

📌 Identify right-sized EC2 instances, Amazon RDS, storage options.
📌 Estimate AWS Networking, Backup, and Security Costs.

Step 3: Calculate AWS TCO

📌 Use AWS Pricing Calculator → AWS TCO Calculator
📌 Compare on-premises annual costs vs AWS annual costs.

Step 4: Optimize AWS Costs

📌 Consider Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, or Spot Instances for long-term savings.
📌 Implement Auto-Scaling & Monitoring to avoid over-provisioning.

🎯 Conclusion

Migrating Web Servers & Database Servers to AWS provides:
✅ 85% cost savings compared to on-prem infrastructure
✅ Scalability & high availability via AWS Auto-Scaling, RDS Multi-AZ
✅ Reduced IT maintenance using managed AWS services
✅ Enhanced security & monitoring with AWS IAM, WAF, and CloudWatch

🚀 Ready to migrate? Start by running AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) for automatic migration insights.

📖 References

• AWS TCO Calculator

• AWS EC2 Pricing

• AWS Migration Hub

• AWS Well-Architected Framework

  📌 AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS)
  📌 AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
  📌 AWS Migration Hub

Phase 2 - Database Migration & Execution

With Phase 1 complete, we now have full visibility into our infrastructure, dependencies, and costs. The next step is migration planning and execution!

📌 In Phase 2, we will:
✅ Choose the right AWS services for hosting applications
✅ Develop an automated infrastructure strategy (Terraform, CloudFormation)
✅ Optimize our AWS cost management for long-term savings

💬 Have questions about AWS migration? Drop a comment below!
📢 Follow for more real-world AWS Cloud Migration insights! 🚀

💡 Why This Blog?

This guide is designed for IT professionals, cloud architects, and DevOps engineers who want to:
✅ Understand AWS migration best practices.
✅ Perform detailed cost comparisons between on-prem and AWS.
✅ Use AWS services effectively to ensure a smooth migration.

Whether you’re planning a small-scale migration or a large enterprise transition, this blog will help you navigate each phase efficiently!

📢 Stay tuned for real-world AWS migration insights and hands-on tutorials! 🚀

🔗 GitHub Repository: mgn-aws-project01

🧑‍💻 Author

👨‍💻 Created and maintained by Praful Patel.
🔗 GitHub | 🌍 Tech Blog