Kubernetes Migration: How to Move Your Workloads with Confidence

Kubernetes migration is quickly becoming a necessity for companies that are scaling modern applications. The CNCF’s 2024 Cloud Native Survey reports that 93% of respondents are either using or evaluating Kubernetes. This interest is great, but there are intricacies involved with moving to Kubernetes that may not be immediately apparent. Beyond putting workloads into containers, it’s about rethinking how you run, manage, and secure your infrastructure in a cloud-native world.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know, including the reasons teams migrate to Kubernetes, the ideal planning and execution of your move, and the best tools to keep on track. 

This is a practical path forward, whether you’re looking for more control or are trying to deliver more software in less time.

Key highlights:

• Kubernetes migration unlocks agility, scalability, and cost-efficiency in modern cloud-native environments.

• A successful migration requires planning for app dependencies, compatibility, and ongoing observability.

• Post-migration, automation, and security hardening are critical for long-term success.

• Mirantis delivers an enterprise-ready migration experience for regulated and complex environments.

Why Migrate to Kubernetes?

It probably hasn’t slipped your notice that legacy infrastructure wasn’t built for the speed or scale of today’s applications. Slow release cycles, high operational overhead, and poor portability are just some of the pain points associated with running monoliths or VMs on aging platforms.

Migrating to Kubernetes will unlock:

• Speed and Agility: Ship features faster with automated rollouts and rollbacks.

• Portability Across Clouds: Run workloads where you need them (on-prem, public cloud, or hybrid).

• Built-in Resilience and Scaling: Built with self-healing, autoscaling, and service discovery.

What Does Kubernetes Migration Involve?

Kubernetes migration refers to moving applications and workloads into containerized, cloud-native environments managed by Kubernetes. Aside from just shifting workloads, this process also requires assessing applications and rethinking architecture. It’s also important to plan for security, networking, and operational changes to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Common reasons for Kubernetes migrations include:

• Replatforming from VMs to containers

• Refactoring monolithic apps to microservices

• Lifting and shifting workloads with minimal changes

The main idea is that you need a strategy that accounts for app dependencies, downtime windows, testing, and security. Working with a migration specialist or following a structured approach reduces downtime significantly, as compared to traditional in-house or ad hoc methods. 

Planning Your Kubernetes Migration

Rushing blindly into a migration increases downtime, reduces performance, and leaves room for security gaps. This is why a thoughtful strategy must be the foundational step of any Kubernetes migration. It is crucial to consider application dependencies, infrastructure limitations, and potential compliance challenges before jumping into the migration. 

Before touching workloads, it is a good idea to start with an audit that covers the following:

How to Migrate to Kubernetes

Migrating to Kubernetes is not a one-size-fits-all experience, but most successful migrations include the following five steps: 

1. Assess Dependencies

Start by analyzing how applications interact with their environment. This includes:

• Application Topology: Document all application services, APIs, databases, and third-party dependencies that are in use.

• Application Complexity: Figure out which apps can be containerized easily and which ones will need special care. Usually, stateless apps can be containerized and deployed with minimal changes. On the other hand, stateful apps often require extra preparation, such as a persistent volume provisioning strategy.

• External Dependencies: Find potential roadblocks in the migration process; this could include legacy systems, authentication services, or shared storage.

2. Test Compatibility

Checking whether your applications are compatible with a containerized environment is vital. Doing this before beginning containerization helps avoid failures post-deployment while increasing performance, stability, and compliance from the get-go. 

Compatibility encompasses many things, but here is a checklist to get started:

• Check OS and Runtime Compatibility: Make sure that the application’s current operating system, libraries, and runtime environments will work with container base images. You may need to upgrade or replace Legacy OS versions or outdated dependencies before working with images.

• Consider Performance Changes: Consider how the application will perform once it is containerized. Will it become more or less efficient? Thorough benchmarking can happen down the road, but a cursory examination is helpful before proceeding.

• Note Licensing Constraints: Deployment in containers or virtualized environments may be restricted or prohibited if you are using commercial or proprietary software. It is a good idea to review vendor licensing terms to avoid violations.

3. Containerize Applications

The next step is to containerize your applications. This creates repeatable, portable artifacts that work across various environments and teams. As you get started with containerization, make sure that you:

• Start Small: Test the process with a non-critical task.

• Build with Security in Mind: Choose verified images, limit permissions, and lock dependencies to increase security and minimize your attack surface.

• Integrate CI/CD Pipelines: Automate image builds, scans, and deployments for faster feedback loops.

4. Configure Kubernetes

Once the application is containerized, you need to set up the Kubernetes environment. This stage is critical for Kubernetes management, especially at scale. A solid access control strategy is a great place to start. Implementing namespaces and role-based access control (RBAC) segments workloads and upholds the principle of least privilege. This specifically comes into play for multi-tenant environments, where teams or applications need to operate independently and securely.

Next, define resource limits for each workload. This sets up every container with the CPU and memory it needs to run predictably while preventing any container from consuming more than its allotted resources. If these limits were not in place, an overly demanding workload could dominate system resources and slow down other workloads. 

Regular health checks are also necessary; these allow the platform to monitor application state automatically in order to maintain high availability and resilience. 

These configurations are essential for a reliable Kubernetes foundation, but managing them at scale can be challenging. Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE) streamlines this process by offering enterprise-ready defaults, hardened security, and expert support without the operational overhead. 

5. Migrate Your Workloads

After everything is in place, workloads can be shifted to Kubernetes. Instead of attempting to move everything at once, you should use progressive deployment techniques that shift traffic gradually while carefully monitoring stability and user experience. With this approach, it’s easy to roll back and minimize fallout if something goes wrong.

Data migration becomes a critical piece of the puzzle when working with stateful services. 

In these cases, data needs to be moved or synchronized between the legacy environment and Kubernetes. This can happen by syncing databases during off-hours or using replication tools to ensure consistency throughout the transition. 

Throughout the migration, robust observability and logging will help catch issues early so that you can respond quickly. Tools like Prometheus and Grafana give visibility into application health, resource usage, and potential failure. 

When workloads are running successfully in Kubernetes, you can begin decommissioning legacy infrastructure. 

Clearly, there are many steps required for a successful workload migration; this can quickly become overwhelming, especially in complex or regulated environments. Fortunately, partnering with trusted experts can accelerate the process while reducing risk, and Mirantis offers hands-on guidance and solutions tailored to your needs and goals. 

Kubernetes Migration Tools to Help Along the Way

Many commercial and open source tools can help with Kubernetes migrations; one example is the Mirantis Application Migration and Modernization Platform (AMMP). AMMP helps with key stages of the migration process, like application discovery, dependency mapping, and containerization. 

Furthermore, the open-source and community-driven ecosystem has many tools to make Kubernetes migration smoother:

Post-Migration Considerations

When applications are running successfully on Kubernetes, ongoing optimization becomes the next priority. Continuously monitoring resource usage and fine-tuning pod configurations for performance and cost-efficiency is a crucial part of this. It is also important to revisit and adjust your auto-scaling policies as usage patterns change; this helps applications scale appropriately under varying loads.

Security hardening must also be taken into account. To reduce your attack surface and ensure compliance with industry standards, consider:

• Establishing network policies

• Enabling audit logging

• Integrating image scanning into your CI/CD pipelines 

Additionally, training and culture shifts may be required to take full advantage of a Kubernetes migration. Teams may need to upskill with role-based Kubernetes training, and collaboration between teams might need to be strengthened to support efficiency.

It’s also meaningful to define robust policy and governance frameworks, establishing clear protocols regarding: 

• Namespace isolation

• Access controls

• Image registry usage, and 

• Ownership and accountability 

Consistency across a Kubernetes environment relies on good governance.

Finally, you should continuously evaluate your platform against your business goals. This alignment is key to long-term success, whether you’re managing Kubernetes internally or using an enterprise Kubernetes management solution. 

Streamline Your Kubernetes Migration Strategy with Mirantis

A Kubernetes migration will completely rewrite how your organization builds, runs, and scales applications. For teams looking to carry out a smooth and controlled transition to Kubernetes, thoughtful planning and the right tools are non-negotiable. Meanwhile, alignment with business goals and a strong governance strategy will only add to long-term success.

Although Kubernetes unlocks powerful capabilities, the migration journey can be daunting and confusing. Luckily, you don’t have to go through the process alone. With deep expertise and proven methodology, the Mirantis Application Migration and Modernization Platform (AMMP) helps organizations accelerate migration timelines and achieve long-term success. 

Mirantis experts use AMMP to:

• Assess: Mirantis experts inventory your application portfolio and create a catalog of all applications, a deep-dive assessment of apps by type and architecture, and an Application Migration Map recommending next steps and estimating difficulty.

• Prioritize: Mirantis experts review assessment outputs with application owners to prioritize apps for migration/modernization, based on technical and business requirements.

• Transform and Govern: Mirantis software development experts work with your team to specify and build automated workflows with CI/CD, security scanning, GitOps, and other modern paradigms. This step also involves fine-tuning your platform for production and integrating open source solutions for improved network management, security, backup, observability, and disaster recovery.

• Validate and Deploy: Mirantis DevOps experts assemble deployment blueprints to operationalize your applications on the new target platform, developing automations to enable deployment, scaling, and lifecycle management. First iterations are deployed and thoroughly tested on staging environments before deployment to production.

Want to simplify your Kubernetes migration strategy? Book a demo today and see how Mirantis can help your enterprise.