How to Run Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Can you run Microsoft Workloads on AWS?

The short answer is: yes.

AWS has been running Microsoft workloads longer than any other cloud provider and can provide greater operational expertise, at scale, than other cloud providers.

One of the myths definitely is that AWS is only for Linux. Microsoft has been one of the largest workloads on AWS for a very long time. There is a lot of built in AWS tooling that really helps with Microsoft Workloads. 

The integrations are much more tight and easy to manage now. While Microsoft workloads will work well, people may think of AWS first for other non-Microsoft workloads. The other pattern that we're seeing is that AWS is emphasizing a sort of a freedom from Microsoft, if you will.

Example: running .NET applications on AWS

You can run both your legacy .NET Framework and modern .NET applications on AWS. (AWS has been supporting .NET in the cloud since 2008. )

Here are some of the ways you can run .NET on AWS: 

• Migrate by rehosting. The simplest way to migrate .NET applications to AWS is to rehost them using AWS App Runner or Amazon EC2. 
• Use containers to bundle your app, dependencies, and configuration. This will make it easy to port between on premises and the cloud. AWS offers a variety of container services to host your containerized .NET Framework application on Windows or your modern .NET application on Linux. You can use the AWS App2Container tool to generate a container image for your application. 
• Modernize to a cloud-based architecture. This will maximize scale and reliability, take advantage of serverless compute, and run on Linux at a reduced cost. The Porting Assistant for .NET tool helps you port your legacy .NET Framework code to modern .NET, and the AWS Microservice Extractor for .NET tool simplifies the process of transforming your monolithic application into microservices.

Migrating and running Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Migrating Microsoft workloads to AWS involves a structured approach that ensures minimal disruption and maximum efficiency. AWS provides comprehensive tools and services specifically designed for Microsoft workload migration, including AWS Application Migration Service (MGN), AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), and AWS Migration Hub. These tools help orchestrate the migration process while maintaining business continuity and ensuring data integrity.

Migrate & Modernize

The migration of Microsoft workloads to AWS begins with a comprehensive assessment and planning phase. This process starts with a thorough discovery and assessment of existing workloads, followed by developing a migration strategy that aligns with your business objectives. A detailed migration roadmap is then created to guide the entire process. The implementation phase leverages automated migration tools and processes, accompanied by knowledge transfer sessions to enable your team's success. Rigorous testing and validation procedures ensure system reliability, culminating in a well-planned cutover execution. AWS facilitates this journey through various tools such as AWS Migration Hub, AWS Application Migration Service, and AWS Database Migration Service, making the transition smooth and efficient.

Optimize Costs

Cost optimization for Microsoft workloads on AWS encompasses several strategic approaches to maximize value. By right-sizing instances based on actual usage patterns and implementing automated scaling to match demand, organizations can eliminate waste and improve efficiency. AWS License Manager helps optimize Microsoft licensing costs, while AWS Reserved Instances and Savings Plans provide significant long-term savings. Through AWS Cost Explorer, organizations can maintain ongoing cost monitoring and implement automated cost control measures. The shift to pay-as-you-go models where appropriate further enhances cost efficiency, ensuring organizations only pay for the resources they actually use.

Automate Security & Compliance

Security and compliance automation in AWS creates a robust and protected environment for Microsoft workloads. Through AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and seamless integration with Active Directory services, organizations can maintain strict access controls. Automated security patching and updates ensure systems remain current and protected, while continuous compliance monitoring and reporting help meet regulatory requirements. Regular security assessments and audits provide ongoing validation of security measures. The implementation of automated backup and disaster recovery procedures, combined with encryption at rest and in transit, creates a comprehensive security framework that protects your Microsoft workloads.

The benefits of running Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Running Microsoft workloads on AWS delivers enhanced reliability through 99.99% availability via multi-AZ deployments, automated failover capabilities, and built-in redundancy and fault tolerance. The platform provides excellent modernization opportunities, offering an easy path to containerization and microservices, access to cutting-edge AWS services and features, and the flexibility to modernize at your own pace. Migration flexibility is another key advantage, with multiple migration strategies available including rehost, replatform, and refactor options. AWS provides extensive tool support for automated migrations and the ability to maintain hybrid architectures during transition, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations.

Security and compliance capabilities are superior on AWS, offering comprehensive security controls and monitoring systems that integrate seamlessly with existing security tools and practices. The platform provides automated compliance reporting and maintains the highest security standards, making it easier for organizations to meet their regulatory requirements. From a cost perspective, AWS offers significant advantages through its pay-as-you-go pricing model, eliminating the need for large upfront investments. Organizations can optimize costs through automatic scaling, reserved instances, and efficient resource management, while benefiting from AWS's economies of scale. The platform's extensive tooling for cost analysis and optimization helps organizations maintain visibility and control over their spending, ensuring maximum value from their cloud investment.

AWS tools for Microsoft Workloads

So there’s been a continued pattern of AWS taking away some of the toil that exists in managing any form of workload you might have, allowing a move to manage services there.

• AWS Systems Manager as a replacement for Azure SCCM. It's free and there's no cost for you to manage your systems with it. Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is in the best spot it's ever been for Microsoft SQL. We have other things like 
• AWS Managed Microsoft AD so you don't have to manage your domain controllers within Active Directory. It's very convenient. 
• AWS also enables easy integration with AWS SSO and Azure AD for your SSO and things like that are all great and they're fully fledged solutions that work great for Microsoft workloads.

In the past, it used to be a little difficult to manage things like domain joins and stuff, but because of services like managed ADs within AWS, it makes it very easy to do domain joins with AWS APIs. Such things make it a lot easier, considering that you used to have to build a little bit of infrastructure around it to create your automation.

Modernizing workloads with AWS and Caylent

So we're seeing incentives to move to maybe running .NET on Lambda and Linux containers and the other thing we're seeing as well, like Microsoft SQL licensing. It might run really well on AWS's Relational Database Service (RDS), but now we're starting to see folks that are using Babelfish to potentially gain freedom from that and run on Aurora PostgreSQL, now that AWS has released it with general availability. So we're hearing a lot from customers asking for our advice, opinions and how to maybe take advantage of this.

It's an opportunity to potentially take our costs from those licensing concerns as well as to increase maintainability, to take advantage of AWS's Aurora PostgreSQL, which has additional capabilities. So it's interesting to see that while the Microsoft workloads are really great to run on AWS there's also a path to modernization for customers that don't necessarily want it not to be their future state.

Next Action

If you’d like to leverage next generation infrastructure on AWS to take advantage of its flexibility and scalability across a plethora of workload types, get in touch with our team.