Migration phases
Phase 1: Project initiation
A successful migration starts with the right people. Assemble a cross-functional onboarding team that includes key stakeholders such as:
- DevOps Engineers
- Developers
- Release Managers
- Security/Compliance Officers
- Project Managers
This team will be responsible for scoping, planning, and executing the migration, while also acting as points of contact throughout the process.
Onboarding team alignment and project kick-off
Once the team is in place, hold a kick-off meeting to align on:
- Roles and responsibilities
- Objectives and success criteria
- Project timelines
- Communication channels and ways of working (WoW)
This ensures everyone is on the same page and aware of the project's goals and expectations.
Scope overview
Defining the scope early helps avoid scope creep and sets realistic expectations. A key decision here involves determining whether your migration will follow a greenfield or brownfield approach.
Greenfield
Start fresh with Cloudsmith, without bringing over existing structure. This approach suits teams looking to streamline processes, remove technical debt, or migrate only essential components.
Brownfield
Migrate existing repositories, artifacts, and configurations into Cloudsmith. This approach suits teams for whom continuity with the current setup is critical.
Consider the following questions to help determine your approach:
- What timeframes are you targeting for migration and cutover?
- Do you want to bring everything over, just a subset, or start fresh?
- Are there any unused or outdated artifacts that could be left behind?
- Are you onboarding everyone or only those who need immediate access?
Document the scope and the outline of what you want to accomplish, and the benefits you expect to get.
Existing tooling and CI/CD
Understanding your current tooling landscape helps to ensure compatibility and to identify areas where Cloudsmith can optimize your workflows.
What tooling do you currently use?
Common CI/CD tools include:
Review your current design patterns. Do you maintain golden paths, the supported and pre-approved routes to production that teams are expected to use? Or do teams maintain their own workflows and processes?
How will it change with Cloudsmith?
Cloudsmith integrates with most popular CI/CD platforms, and this may present opportunities to:
- Enhance security and compliance
- Centralize artifact storage
- Simplify workflows
Key questions to ask yourself:
- What environments and types of pipelines (build, test, deploy) do you manage?
- Do you have specific compliance or regulatory requirements?
- Is your primary use case internal development, distribution, or both?
Phase 1 completion: setting the strategic foundation
With the successful completion of Phase 1, your program moves from concept to execution-ready. This phase establishes the foundational elements for a fast start to your onboarding and migration journey, including:
- A clearly defined high-level scope and success criteria
- Identified day-to-day onboarding leads, with ways of working agreed by the core onboarding team
- Agreed key milestones and timelines for the next phases
Next steps
Continue to Phase 2: Discovery and migration planning.
