Phase 2 – Assessment & Analysis

The Assessment & Analysis phase is the decision-making engine of every successful migration. After discovering the existing infrastructure, organizations must evaluate technical readiness, application dependencies, infrastructure compatibility, business criticality, and migration risks before defining the migration strategy.

This phase converts raw inventory into actionable insights, enabling enterprises to determine what to migrate, when to migrate, how to migrate, and what risks must be mitigated.

The Assessment & Analysis phase helps organizations:

  • Validate discovered inventory
  • Assess infrastructure readiness
  • Identify application dependencies
  • Evaluate migration compatibility
  • Analyze resource utilization
  • Classify workloads by business criticality
  • Recommend migration methods
  • Reduce migration risk

Data Validation

Before analysis begins, ensure discovery data is accurate and complete.

Activities

  • Validate VM inventory
  • Verify application ownership
  • Remove duplicate records
  • Confirm infrastructure topology
  • Validate business metadata

Deliverable: Trusted migration inventory.

Infrastructure Assessment

Evaluate the health and readiness of the existing infrastructure.

Assessment Areas

Compute

  • CPU utilization
  • Memory utilization
  • ESXi versions
  • Cluster health

Storage

  • Capacity
  • IOPS
  • Datastore health
  • Storage policies

Network

  • VLANs
  • NSX readiness
  • IP utilization
  • Firewall dependencies

Deliverable: Infrastructure health report.

Application Dependency Analysis

Applications rarely operate independently.

Understanding dependencies avoids application outages during migration.

Typical dependencies include:

  • Database Servers
  • Web Servers
  • Middleware
  • Active Directory
  • DNS
  • Load Balancers
  • Storage Arrays
  • External APIs

Dependency mapping enables:

  • Correct migration sequencing
  • Migration wave planning
  • Reduced downtime
  • Improved rollback planning

Compatibility Assessment

Determine whether workloads can migrate to VMware Cloud Foundation without modification.

Assessment Criteria

  • Guest Operating System
  • VMware Tools
  • Virtual Hardware Version
  • ESXi Compatibility
  • Network Compatibility
  • Storage Compatibility
  • Licensing Requirements

Output

Each workload is classified as:

  • Ready
  • Requires Remediation
  • Requires Modernization
  • Not Supported

Performance & Capacity Analysis

Historical performance data ensures workloads receive adequate resources after migration.

Analyze

  • CPU Peak Usage
  • Memory Consumption
  • Storage Growth
  • Network Throughput
  • Resource Contention
  • Seasonal Workloads

This data supports:

  • Right-sizing
  • Capacity planning
  • Resource optimization
  • Cost reduction

Business Criticality Assessment

Technical readiness alone does not determine migration priority.

Applications are categorized based on business impact.

Business TierExamplePriority
Tier 1Core Banking, ERP, HealthcareHighest
Tier 2CRM, HR SystemsHigh
Tier 3Collaboration, File ServicesMedium
Tier 4Development & TestLow

Risk Assessment

Every migration introduces technical and operational risks.

Common Risk Categories

  • Unsupported operating systems
  • Legacy applications
  • Capacity constraints
  • Network dependencies
  • Security gaps
  • Compliance requirements
  • Business downtime

Risk Rating

ImpactProbabilityPriority
HighHighCritical
HighMediumHigh
MediumMediumModerate
LowLowLow

Migration Method Recommendation

Based on the assessment, recommend the best migration approach.

Workload TypeRecommended Method
Business-CriticalHCX Replication Assisted vMotion
Standard ProductionHCX Bulk Migration
Same vCenterCross-vCenter vMotion
Storage RefreshStorage vMotion
Legacy SystemsCold Migration

Assessment Deliverables

DeliverablePurpose
Infrastructure Assessment ReportEnvironment health
Dependency MapApplication relationships
Compatibility MatrixMigration readiness
Capacity AssessmentResource planning
Risk RegisterRisk mitigation
Workload ClassificationMigration prioritization
Migration RecommendationPreferred migration method

Executive Dashboard

Assessment Progress
────────────────────────────────────

Infrastructure Assessed      ██████████ 100%

Applications Analysed        █████████░ 95%

Dependencies Mapped          █████████░ 92%

Compatibility Verified       ████████░░ 88%

Capacity Analysed            ██████████ 100%

Risk Assessment              █████████░ 93%

Migration Ready              ████████░░ 90%

Best Practices

Document remediation actions for workloads that are not migration-ready.

Validate discovery data before making migration decisions.

Map application dependencies early to avoid service disruption.

Right-size workloads using actual performance metrics instead of allocated resources.

Prioritize migrations based on business value and technical readiness.

Maintain a centralized assessment dashboard for stakeholders.

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