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Migration Guide

Learn how to migrate existing workloads to KubeZero.

Overview

This guide helps you migrate from existing Kubernetes platforms or vanilla Kubernetes to KubeZero.

Migration Strategies

Lift and Shift

Move existing applications with minimal changes:

  1. Export existing manifests
  2. Apply KubeZero patterns
  3. Update configurations
  4. Deploy to KubeZero

Gradual Migration

Migrate applications incrementally:

  1. Start with non-critical workloads
  2. Validate functionality
  3. Migrate critical applications
  4. Decommission old platform

Pre-Migration Assessment

Evaluate your current setup:

  • Applications: Catalog all running applications
  • Dependencies: Map service dependencies
  • Data: Identify persistent data locations
  • Configurations: Document custom configurations
  • Integrations: List external integrations

Migration Steps

1. Prepare KubeZero Environment

# Bootstrap KubeZero cluster
kubezero bootstrap --cloud aws --region us-west-2

# Configure platform components
kubezero configure --enable monitoring,logging,security

2. Application Migration

# Export existing manifests
kubectl get all -o yaml > existing-apps.yaml

# Apply KubeZero patterns
kubezero migrate --input existing-apps.yaml --output kubezero-apps/

3. Data Migration

Migrate persistent data:

  • Database migrations
  • File system data
  • Configuration data
  • Secrets and certificates

4. DNS and Traffic Migration

Update DNS and routing:

  1. Update DNS records
  2. Configure load balancers
  3. Test traffic routing
  4. Monitor application health

Migration Checklist

  • KubeZero cluster ready
  • Applications cataloged
  • Dependencies mapped
  • Data backup completed
  • Migration plan approved
  • Rollback plan prepared
  • Testing strategy defined
  • Monitoring configured

Common Challenges

Resource Requirements

Ensure adequate resources:

  • CPU and memory allocation
  • Storage requirements
  • Network bandwidth
  • Load balancer capacity

Application Compatibility

Address compatibility issues:

  • Update container images
  • Modify environment variables
  • Update service discovery
  • Fix networking configurations

Post-Migration

After migration completion:

  1. Validate all applications
  2. Monitor performance
  3. Update documentation
  4. Train team members
  5. Plan old platform decommission

Migration Tools

KubeZero provides migration utilities:

  • kubezero migrate - Convert existing manifests
  • kubezero validate - Check compatibility
  • kubezero compare - Compare configurations

For detailed migration procedures, see the migration reference.