Case Study - Migration & Hosting customers Infra on AWS

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ABOUT CUSTOMER

With a rich Canadian heritage spanning over four decades, Faces Canada has established itself as a leading provider of high-quality makeup and skincare products. Since its inception in 2009, Faces Canada has become a household name in India, blending international cosmetic technology with the specific needs of Indian skin tones. Their diverse range of globally acclaimed products is manufactured in top-tier facilities in Italy, Germany, and Turkey, ensuring the highest quality formulations. Currently, Faces Canada products are available in over 140 cities and towns across India, both in physical stores and online through various e-commerce platforms.

Current Infrastructure

Faces Cosmetics has the SAP HANA implemented in an on-premises Datacentre. Faces Canada relies heavily on SAP HANA running on SUSE Linux to drive its business operations. The SAP HANA setup has the biggest responsibility to maintain their transactions of the orders from the various interfaces all over the world, maintaining the procurement module and transactions and maintaining their digital presence.

This setup is powered and driven using a legacy IT infra and implementation in their owned on-prem DC. They also maintain a team of IT expert in various domains to handle and maintain their on-prem IT Infra. The SAP infra is maintained and managed by the SAP Partner who is responsible for customization, implementation and scale the SAP modules time to time as per the need of the company.

The Challenge

Legacy IT infra itself is a challenge and when it is hosted in on-prem DC then it becomes more challenging for the IT team. If we look at Faces Cosmetics, then it is a company that mainly depends on various online activities like selling its products, advertising new launches, integration with the internal CRM, and various other software platforms owned by the customer and their partner and vendor companies. All these activities and setup is driven by this legacy on-prem IT infra and main challenges faced by the customer are as follows:

  • All the on-prem interruptions like internet instability, electricity instability, physical security breaches, cyber security-related issues, maintenance of the on-prem DC, hardware aging management, and other related issues.
  • Security of the IT infra so that unauthorized access and misuse of the data cannot be done in any case.
  • Customer is also using SAP with the Document Management Server that is integrated with the SAP instances and containing huge data along with the customizations settings that need to be migrated as it is hard to find a partner who can take care of the responsibility and ensure the successful migration of that massive infra with all the setting, customization, mapping, and integrations to the AWS platform.
  • Another challenge is to maintain the AWS infra and ensure the implementation as per the best practices in terms of deployment, security, and compliance.
  • Reducing the Manual administrative tasks, automatic patch management, managing configuration updates and assessment, security and compliance risk and much more needs to be done.

The Solution

ASSESSMENT

i2k2 has conducted a comprehensive assessment of the current SAP landscape, considering hardware, software, and infrastructure requirements. After defining the scope, objectives, and timeline for the migration and hosting our technical team evaluated the readiness of the customer, including resources (like Bandwidth), skills (for on-prem technical strength), and processes required for a successful migration including reviewing licensing agreements and ensure compliance with SAP and other relevant regulations with the help of their SAP Partner.

MOBILIZE

Prepare for the migration process by establishing project teams, defining roles and responsibilities, and communicating the migration plan to stakeholders. i2k2 has trained migration team on new technologies, tools, and methodologies that will be used during migration. After that, i2k2 set up the necessary infrastructure and resources, including cloud environments, migration tools, and testing environments. Just before start migration i2k2 has developed a detailed migration plan, including timelines, milestones, and contingency measures to address potential risks and challenges.

MIGRATE

i2k2 executed the migration plan according to the defined schedule, starting with data migration followed by application migration. After migrating each workload i2k2 performed thorough testing of migrated systems to ensure data integrity, functionality, and performance meet expectations. i2k2 has monitored the migration process closely, addressing any issues or bottlenecks that arise promptly.

i2k2 has the expertise of the AWS cloud platform but it was the migration of SAP and after all, i2k2 need some specific expertise to migrate it successfully so i2k2 collaborated with SAP Partner to optimize performance and ensure a smooth transition to the new environment.

1. Replication of Databases

i2k2 has implemented MGN and AWS Database Migration Tool to migrate DB from On-prem DC to AWS EC2 instances. This makes sure that the process of data transfer is correct and consistent, with no loss of data.

There was continuous data synchronization going on between databases on-premises and instances on AWS EC2, throughout the replication process.

2. Cutting Off Replication

Cutover: The Cutover option provided by the MGN after the first level of synchronization was completed. After the cutover, the technical team test the servers and when test results are successful then the 'Final Cutover' option provided by the MGN for the final cutover that stopped data replication after the final synchronization.

3. Replication of Application & Configuration

i2k2 has set the SAP applications to replicate on the AWS EC2 instances using the SAP native methods of SAP replication. This involved setting the needed application environments, and configuration changes, and ensuring that all dependencies and integrations were properly set up.

4. Traffic Routing

At last, the final stage of the migration process directed the traffic from the on-premises infrastructure to the AWS cloud. This step was taken carefully to experience minimal downtime and not disrupt the users and applications.

MODERNIZE

After completing migration, i2k2 optimized and modernize the SAP landscape with the help of SAP Partner to leverage the full capabilities of SAP HANA and cloud infrastructure. i2k2 followed implementation best practices for cloud security, scalability, and performance optimization to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the SAP environment. A major part of the infra is migrated as it is because SAP HANA is very stable itself and it don't need anything specific to perform well but we have modernized the monitoring and automatic management of the cloud infra by deploying Amazon System Manager, Lambda, and CloudWatch.

The Solution/Architecture Diagram

The main challenges that are illuminated by migrating to the AWS

  1. All the on-premises interruptions like internet instability, electricity instability, physical security breaches, cybersecurity-related issues, maintenance of the on-prem DC, hardware aging management, and other related issues are eliminated after migrating to the Cloud (AWS Platform)
  2. The accessibility management configured using VPN, subnet segregation, and additional tools like 2FA, etc. are made it stronger than on-prem DC
  3. i2k2 Networks took responsibility for the migration of the infra using appropriate tools like AWS DMS and also offering technical support round the clock every day. i2k2 Networks also helped the customer with the integration of all related applications and data servers i.e. Document server, object storage, etc.
  4. i2k2 Networks is an advanced consulting partner of AWS and is capable of guiding customers about the best practices, using this capability i2k2 consulted the customer and help them in the deployment of the workloads as per the best practices of the implementation in terms of security, compatibility, and compliances as per their business needs.
  5. Tools like AWS Lambda, CloudWatch, etc. are the key components that help the customer by reducing manual effort and time for the monitoring and management of the servers on the AWS cloud platform.
Results & Benefits

After migrating the SAP workloads to the AWS cloud platform, the customer has several benefits from AWS and i2k2. The whole process of migration, collaboration with SAP partner, Cloud implementation, deployment, and migration kind of tasks are performed by the i2k2. In this case, i2k2 was acting like a part of the customer's IT consultant. AWS also offered several benefits as follows:

Reliability

AWS operates datacenters around the world, providing high availability and fault tolerance for SAP HANA deployments. AWS’s global infrastructure ensures that your SAP HANA system remains accessible and reliable even in the event of hardware failures or data center outages.

Security

AWS offers a wide range of security features and compliance certifications, helping customers meet regulatory requirements and protect SAP HANA data. AWS’s security features include network isolation, encryption, identity and access management, and compliance certifications such as SOC, PCI DSS, and HIPAA.

Cost-effectiveness

AWS’s pay-as-you-go pricing model allows pay only for the resources as per use, eliminating the need for upfront capital investment in hardware. Additionally, AWS offers pricing options such as Reserved Instances and Savings Plans, which can help reduce costs for long-term SAP HANA deployments. As per the TCO, moving to AWS results in approximately 55.27% savings compared to staying in the current environment. This percentage represents the potential profit or cost reduction by using AWS instead of the current setup.

Integration

AWS provides a range of services that can be integrated with SAP HANA to enhance functionality and enable new use cases. For example, use of AWS services such as Amazon S3 for data storage, Amazon Redshift for data warehousing, and AWS Lambda for serverless computing alongside SAP HANA.

Automation

AWS offers automation tools such as AWS CloudFormation and AWS Systems Manager, which streamline the deployment, configuration, and management of SAP HANA environments. These tools help reduce manual effort and improve efficiency in managing SAP HANA infrastructure.

Overall, leveraging the AWS cloud platform for SAP HANA workloads can help organizations achieve greater agility, flexibility, and cost-efficiency in running their SAP HANA systems.

Performance & Productivity

After migrating to AWS, the customer got the benefits of the robust infra with less manual effort. Now they just log in to the application and start working without thinking about the connectivity issues, location limitations, etc. Customer has conducted a detailed assessment involving metrics such as time saved, reduction in errors, improved system performance, and financial savings, and Return on Investment (ROI) analysis. Based on the assessment customer has quantified productivity gains in terms of cost savings, revenue growth, or other business metrics and found that 40% of productivity growth after migrating to AWS.

Why AWS?

AWS is designed to allow application providers, ISVs, and vendors to quickly and securely host your applications – whether an existing application or a new SaaS-based application. You can use the AWS Management Console or well-documented web services APIs to access AWS's application hosting platform. AWS utilizes an end-to-end approach to secure and harden our infrastructure, including physical, operational, and software measures. For more information, see the AWS Security Center.

Using AWS tools, Auto Scaling, and Elastic Load Balancing, your application can scale up or down based on demand. Backed by Amazon's massive infrastructure, you have access to compute and storage resources when you need them. With AWS, you take advantage of a scalable, reliable, and secure global computing infrastructure, the virtual backbone of Amazon.com's multi-billion dollar online business that has been honed for over a decade.

Why i2k2?

As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner & Managed Amazon cloud services provider, i2k2 provides comprehensive folio of cloud solutions along with prompt and reliable support. Our partnership with AWS goes several years back, even before we formalized our association with the company in 2013. Key reason to choose i2k2 was 20 years of proven business. Talent is vast due to extensive IT exposure in India.

About i2k2 Networks

i2k2 Networks is the No.1 Dedicated Web Hosting company in India and a trusted name in the IT cloud hosting services industry that offers a full gamut of cutting edge enterprise solutions which drive business in today's Internet-powered world. Our folio includes Dedicated Servers, Cloud Hosting- Public, Private and Hybrid, Data Center Services, Business Email Solutions, Managed IT Services, Backup, and DR Solutions, DevOps Services, Cloud Enablement, Enterprise Hardware solutions, and various other integrated services. A team of dedicated and professionally driven IT experts conversant with diverse client requirements are available 24x7x365 to provide extended support. With superior technologies to host, design and develop high-quality websites and applications, we ensure to deliver unmatched value to our clients.

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