How We Plan a Cloud Migration: Assess, Plan, Migrate, Verify

By LaunchLen Web Solutions Team

Moving a website or application to new hosting is rarely hard because of the copying. It’s hard because of everything connected to it: DNS records, email settings, forms, integrations, certificates and the one script someone set up years ago. A good cloud migration checklist makes those connections visible before anything moves. This post explains how LaunchLen Web Solutions Inc. plans a migration with you, what we’ll ask for, and what to expect on and after migration day. Every setup is different, so treat it as a map rather than a contract.

Before you move: what we inventory

A migration can start with a free consultation, followed by an inventory of what you run today. Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework puts it plainly: discover all dependencies first, because dependencies between workloads cause service disruptions if they aren’t migrated together (Microsoft Learn, Plan your migration).

For a small business, the inventory can include:

• Sites and applications: what runs where, and which versions
• Databases and files: including uploads, product images and documents
• DNS records: website records, plus email-related records that must not break
• Integrations: payment providers, forms, booking tools, CRMs and APIs
• Certificates: how HTTPS is set up today and when certificates renew
• Access: who holds the logins for the domain, the current host and each service
• Backups: what exists, where it’s stored and whether a restore has been tested

This is where you’re most useful to us. You know which tools the business relies on, even if you don’t know how they’re wired together.

Choosing the target: managed hosting, AWS, Azure or VPS

There’s no single right destination. The options usually fall into a few groups:

• Managed hosting: the provider handles much of the server upkeep, which suits many business websites.
• A virtual private server (VPS): more control, and more responsibility for updates and security.
• A major cloud platform we can work with, such as AWS or Azure: a wide range of services, which can suit web apps, data-heavy workloads or AI features, with more setup and planning involved.

How much changes during the move matters too. AWS’s guidance describes several migration strategies, including rehosting (moving an application without changes, often called “lift and shift”), replatforming (moving with some optimization) and refactoring (re-architecting for the cloud), which it calls the most complex (AWS Prescriptive Guidance, migration strategies). For most small business sites, we’d rather move first and improve afterwards than change everything at once.

Security and data location belong in this decision. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recommends evaluating how outsourced providers handle your sensitive information, where they store and use it, and making sure cloud admin accounts use two-factor authentication (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, secure cloud and outsourced IT services). Our post on data residency for AI and cloud covers the privacy questions in more depth. Our cloud and hosting service page explains how we compare options.

Planning the cut-over and rollback

The cut-over is the moment traffic switches from the old setup to the new one. Planning it means agreeing:

• When. Microsoft recommends avoiding critical business periods such as financial close, product launches or holiday seasons (Microsoft Learn, Plan your migration). For a store, that might mean steering clear of a big sale.
• How much downtime is acceptable. Some sites can tolerate a short planned outage; others need a near-zero-downtime approach, which is more complex and needs more testing (same source).
• What counts as failure, and how to roll back. Microsoft advises defining rollback criteria and procedures before starting any migration, and testing them (Microsoft Learn, Plan your migration). For a simple site, rolling back often means pointing DNS back to the old host, which is why the old host stays running until the move is confirmed.
• DNS timing. Google suggests lowering the TTL (time to live) on your DNS records well before the move so changes reach internet providers faster (Google Search Central, changing your hosting).

Migration day: DNS, data and testing

Google’s guidance for changing hosts without changing URLs follows a clear order: prepare and test the new hosting, update DNS to start the move, monitor traffic on both old and new hosting, and shut down the old hosting only when no one is using it (Google Search Central, changing your hosting). Our process can follow the same shape.

Before DNS changes, the new environment is tested: pages, images, forms and downloads. Google also reminds site owners to remove any temporary blocks on crawling or indexing used during setup, and to make sure Search Console verification still works after the move (same source). Then DNS is updated, and both old and new environments are watched while the change propagates.

If URLs are changing too, such as a new domain, that’s a bigger move. Google recommends mapping old URLs to new ones and using permanent redirects (Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes). Where possible, we’d separate that from the hosting change; Google itself advises changing one thing at a time (same source).

Verifying backups, SSL and performance afterwards

A migration isn’t finished when the site loads. Checks afterwards can include:

• Functionality: forms submit, emails arrive, payments and integrations work
• SSL: HTTPS works on every version of the domain and certificate renewal is set up
• Redirects and search: no unexpected errors, and Search Console shows Google reaching the site
• Backups: backups are running on the new setup and a restore has been tested. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recommends testing your backups to make sure they work (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, backups).
• Performance: pages load at least as well as before. Google’s Core Web Vitals are a useful yardstick for real-world loading, responsiveness and stability (Google Search Central, Core Web Vitals).

The old hosting is shut down only once you’re confident everything is working. What help looks like after the move is agreed with you at the start, as part of the scope.

FAQ

Will my website go down during the migration?

The goal is to keep disruption small. Testing the new setup before switching DNS, lowering DNS TTL in advance and keeping the old host running until the move is confirmed all help. How much downtime is acceptable is agreed in the plan.

Will moving hosts hurt my search rankings?

A hosting change without URL changes is usually lower risk. Google notes it’s normal to see a temporary dip in crawl rate after a hosting change, followed by recovery. Changing URLs at the same time adds risk, so we plan it separately where we can.

What do you need from us to start?

A list of what you know you run, access to your domain and current host, and someone who can tell us which tools the business depends on. We’ll help find the rest during the inventory.

Working with LaunchLen

Based in Kitchener, serving Waterloo Region and businesses across Ontario.

If you’re outgrowing your current hosting or planning a move to the cloud, start with the inventory. Tell us what you run today and what you want to change.

Book a free consultation

Sources

• Microsoft Learn, Cloud Adoption Framework: Plan your migration: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/migrate/
• AWS Prescriptive Guidance, About the migration strategies: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/large-migration-guide/migration-strategies.html
• Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Secure cloud and outsourced IT services: https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/secure-cloud-and-outsourced-it-services
• Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Tips for backing up your information (ITSAP.40.002): https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/tips-backing-your-information-itsap40002
• Google Search Central, Changing your hosting: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-no-url-changes
• Google Search Central, Site moves and migrations (with URL changes): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes
• Google Search Central, Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals