How Do you Migrate your System to the Cloud Environment? An Example of Conversion from Silo Type to Horizontal Type

Abstract

At Fukuoka University, we are promoting the transition of information systems centered on administrative systems to the cloud environment. Existing systems are composed of on-premises, and migration over 100 servers to the cloud environment including Azure is our task. Our main missions are two. One is to unify the complex system infrastructure by utilizing virtualization technology and the cloud. The second is to reduce the operating costs of those system infrastructures for the future. In this transition, we aimed to standardize the system environment by establishing a new server infrastructure utilizing the cloud, from silo type system construction. As an actual effort, we created standard service specifications to present to each system construction vendor, unified support windows, and routinely apply server patches. As a result of this standardization, centralized management operation of the system infrastructure was achieved. Moreover, we were able to contribute to a reduction in human cost and operation cost associated with system operation. In this report, we will introduce our approach and report the position of each step. In particular, we would like to share our approach and experiences with the vendors and departments that build and operate each system as an information infrastructure department and how we organized the structure and operation of the campus information system.