In this case study, learn how AIM Consulting experts delivered a solution for a national, not-for-profit health system, ultimately providing AWS cost savings and trusted advisory on best practices.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Challenge: Deactivation and Migration of AWS Account
- Solution: Using Agile and Kanban to Plan Migration and Decommissioning
- Project Execution: Implementing DNS Migration & Decommissioning
- Results: Achieving AWS Cost Savings
Business Challenge: Deactivation and Migration of AWS Account
A national not-for-profit health system had a specific situation needing resolution around their AWS account. The account was discontinued and required deactivation to save the organization from additional monthly spending in the tens of thousands.
The internal team, already extended with projects, was unable to take the time necessary to “clean up” this particular account. They also did not have knowledge of the resources and configurations of the applications in this evacuated AWS account.
Due to the nature of the project, it was imperative that the team assigned had advanced skills in AWS networking [for DNS migration]. With a long work history at the organization, AIM had the system engineers with AWS and networking skills for this project.
Solution: Using Agile & Kanban to Plan Migration and Decommissioning
Our experts used an agile methodology approach and worked directly with the client to define phases for the deactivation of the account.
The initial discovery phase provided specific insights into what resources required migration and what needed to be decommissioned and documented in Confluence along with AWS tools assessment.
Next, our team created a roadmap for all migration and decommissioning efforts. Using the Kanban method for project tracking, we created a backlog of tasks and progress reports reviewed during sprint planning, standup, and sprint retros.
A system of change tickets associated with sprint work items kept the team on track and provided insights to the organization’s stakeholders on the progress.
Project Execution: Implementing DNS Migration & Decommissioning
1. DNS migration
Our experts audited and documented all hosted zone, DNS entries, and registered domains in the target AWS account. AIM walked through all resources and deleted unused abandoned hosted zones and DNS entries.
We coordinated migration efforts of 26 production website DNS endpoints, without service disruptions, with development teams and department leadership.
2. Planned and documented account decommissioning project roadmap
We reviewed all unused or abandon AWS resources from the target account and documented these items in Confluence and SharePoint. We worked with the management and development teams on resource deletion priority and paths forward.
3. Implemented decommissioning strategy
Our experts leveraged the organization’s change control process to communicate AWS resource decommissioning tasks providing communications and documentation on all resource deletion.
4. Migration and archival of S3 storage object artifacts
We created CloudFormation templates to both add bucket permissions and bucket lifecycle policies to archive S3 bucket data once it was moved out of the evacuated account and over to a newer shared services account.
AIM owned and executed the data migration process while communicating changes to the organization, documenting the processes completed and the final data lifecycle configurations.
Results: Achieving AWS Cost Savings
Our experts were able to migrate DNS out of the evacuated account successfully and redirected the organization’s staff to deploy resources into other accounts.
The project concluded with 90% of AWS resources migrated and archived, providing more than $10,000 per month in savings.
After the project concluded, AIM took on the security automation implementation, leveraging AWS Managed services for security, monitoring, and compliance, deployed across 16 AWS accounts.
We became trusted technical advisors to the organization regarding AWS best practices and security within the AWS environment.
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