Bridging the gap between legacy VM environments and container-based solutions
Ron Haberman, market CTO of Platform9 joined Stephen Saunders at Silverlinings to discuss legacy virtualization solutions and the future of infrastructure and operations. As IT leaders contemplate the greater need for efficiency and cost-effectiveness in their infrastructure and operations, discussions around VMs, modern infrastructure, and the complexity of migrating become more prevalent. When should you migrate? What’s involved? How can you modernize effectively with the resources you have?
In this informative webinar, Ron and Stephen explore these topics and more. We’ve summarized some of the key points below. You can also go to the video to watch this entire informative and in-depth webinar right now.
Traditional VMs will not disappear anytime soon
They will still have a role to play, and their lifespan is estimated to extend well beyond a decade. While workloads may shift to native containers, VMs will continue to serve their purpose and provide support. The transition away from mainframes started 30 years ago, yet mainframes still exist today, indicating that VMs are likely to persist for a considerable time.
Containers and Kubernetes are where the industry is heading
There is a reason why the industry is headed in this direction: moving to a modern Kubernetes platform can reduce costs in several areas compared to legacy virtualization platforms. These cost savings include better hardware utilization, reduced licensing costs, and decreased operational expenses. Provisioning, monitoring, troubleshooting, and updating processes are streamlined, resulting in significant time savings and operational efficiencies. Furthermore, Kubernetes provides many capabilities out of the box that are not available in traditional virtualization solutions, including intent-based orchestration, scalability, redundancy, auto-healing, efficient upgrades, and streamlined software deployment. These benefits lead to more efficient operations for DevOps teams and enhanced customer experiences.
The need to support both the old and the new worlds
Organizations face the challenge of migrating their workloads and deciding whether to adopt new container platforms. The discussion typically revolves around the need to convert to microservices and use containers and robust orchestration for interconnected modules. The industry has faced the dilemma of an all-or-nothing approach, managing old and new systems simultaneously. The goal is to find a way to transition to the new world while bringing necessary support with it.
Platform9 supports both VM and container management in a unified platform
Platform9 provides a management platform that allows centralized control over containers, VMs, and infrastructure across multiple data centers and cloud instances. The focus is on avoiding dual management by gradually moving to the new platform and leveraging software expertise for seamless migration of existing VMs. We also offer onboarding and ongoing operations to help staff acquire the necessary skills for managing both the old and new environments effectively.
Platform9’s customer base includes various industries and customers that require edge computing and distributed workloads. Overall, the platform helps customers increase efficiency, support larger systems with fewer resources, and adapt to changing business needs.
What about migrating from VMs to containers?
This is often the sticking point when organizations realize it takes too long and it is too complex to migrate to a new platform while also refactoring their applications to microservices. Skills gaps can also be a significant barrier, with 44% of respondents to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s 2022 Annual Survey stating they have yet to deploy containers in production because of a lack of staff training. Companies can take a more pragmatic approach and migrate to a modern container-based platform that can also run their traditional VMs as is. Platform9 Managed KubeVirt is a solution that allows companies to do just that.
We also take care of the VM migration process. During the migration process, a deep discovery and assessment will be completed to determine which applications and OS libraries can be updated, left behind, or converted into microservices. Platform9 assists with the discovery process, shortening the migration timeline and providing support for migrating workloads. Learn more about our virtualization offerings on our solutions page. You can also get a clearer understanding of exactly what is involved in a migration in our newest white paper.
What about security?
When it comes to security, transitioning to Kubernetes may involve different security practices compared to traditional legacy VM environments. However, the tools and ecosystem have matured, and there are no significant security gotchas to be concerned about. The platform supports zero-trust concepts, and workloads can maintain their existing security infrastructure within the VMs.
Start with business outcomes before making a platform decision
Platform9’s philosophy revolves around starting with the business outcome and working backward to provide a platform that ensures a smooth transition without leaving any applications or services behind. Their focus on pragmatic solutions and customer success sets us apart in the market. Ron discusses the process during the webinar, but you can reach out to us to schedule a meeting and see for yourself how the experts at Platform9 help you modernize your infrastructure to meet your business needs and goals.
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