Migrating to the cloud and updating your infrastructure can be tricky. The simultaneous migration of interconnected applications can be challenging; thus, many choose not to entirely abandon their infrastructures in one shot. An incremental approach to lift-and-shift migrations was typical even before AWS Local Zones were introduced.
Figure 6.5 – Migrating from VMware to EC2 in a Local Zone with AWS Application Migration Service
However, challenges emerge when customers have complex, mission-critical enterprise applications. Tight latency requirements between dependencies are common, yet the closest region is sometimes 40 ms away. In such cases, the entire thing must be shut down and cut over in one motion.
AWS Local Zones and Direct Connect combined facilitate low-latency/low-jitter connectivity between cloud-based resources and systems still located on-premises. Establishing a hybrid environment that includes AWS Local Zones in its architecture gives customers a middle-ground option between on-premises and a full AWS Region.
AWS Outposts versus AWS Local Zones
When diving into AWS’s infrastructure offerings, it is crucial to understand the operational overhead associated with each service. AWS Outposts and AWS Local Zones, while catering to similar requirements, differ considerably in their operational demands. When does it make sense to use one over the other?
Hardware management
AWS Outposts involves direct interaction with physical hardware. Customers are responsible for providing suitable space within their data centers, ensuring there’s adequate power, cooling, and network connectivity. While AWS will handle maintenance and repairs, on-site access for AWS personnel or specific instructions for the customer might be needed, especially during hardware failures.
Being an extension of AWS’s infrastructure, Local Zones do not demand customers to handle any physical hardware. The responsibility for maintaining the infrastructure remains entirely with AWS.
Network configuration
Ensuring seamless connectivity between the Outposts rack and the on-premises network is the customer’s responsibility. They need to configure local network settings, integrate with existing network setups, and ensure secure and high-bandwidth connections to AWS Regions.
Since Local Zones are designed to be extensions of AWS Regions, AWS manages the majority of the networking aspects. Customers focus on their VPC settings, just as they would in a typical AWS environment.