The goal of live migration is to allow upgrades or maintenance to be performed on a Virtual Machine but at the same time users are still able to use the system without experiencing any down-time while the migration takes place. It is the process that involves moving a Virtual Machine from one physical server to another without disrupting its availability to the users of the system. Live migration allows IT supports or administrators to upgrade and perform maintenance on a virtual machine offline without causing downtimes and affecting the user's’ system transactions.

The Benefits of Live Migration in Businesses

1. Increased flexibility

2. Ease-of-maintenance

3. Better utilization of the hardware

4. Facilitate Proactive Maintenance

5. Avoid downtimes and maximize business productivity

Migrating to the Cloud

Now that we are into the internet-of-things era, migrating to the cloud provides a higher level of accessibility, reliability, scalability, and cost savings in the long run. Here are the advantages of using cloud migration tools:

1. Enables you to meet the increasing demand of traffic in your application

2. There is no need to purchase expensive systems and equipment at the same time reducing the expenses allotted for IT resources management and maintenance.

3. Cloud based system data and applications are accessible online which means greater mobility

4. Data security and accessibility from any device

5. Scalability which allows you to grow or shrink storage depending on your needs

6. Safe and secure data recovery or backup

The 3 Cloud Computing Models

1. Infrastructure as a Service aka IaaS

Examples are Amazon Web Services, AWS Migration,Microsoft Azure,Google Compute Engine

2. Platform as a Service aka PaaS

Examples are AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Google App, Heroku

3. Software as a Service aka SaaS

Examples Salesforce and Google Apps

The 3 Cloud Types

1. Public Cloud – your resources are hosted completely by a cloud provider like the Amazon Web Services

2. Private – you create your own private cloud using VMware's’ vCloud and other platforms

3. Hybrid – the best of both worlds, your resources are both in the public and private platforms

Despite the great benefits associated with the cloud migration process, choosing to migrate to the cloud still poses some risks, with some IT managers saying that these pitfalls are likely unavoidable. So, always remember before deciding to adopt cloud migration – check your system’s actual needs and conduct in-depth researches.

https://www.cloudendure.com/live-migration/