Migration to Cloud-GCP services
VISTA is an independent operator in the Vaca Muerta formation shale oil window. It is an agile organization led by an experienced oil and gas management team. Its objective is to develop a well inventory with the best efficiency standards in the industry to generate solid cash flows.
HE CHALLENGE
In 2019, the client Vista Oil began the analysis of the Datacenter Exit project, comparing the main Cloud services available on the market and carrying out a comparative cost projection. During this process, they focused not only on comparing the costs between Cloud services and the costs of maintaining a data center, but also on evaluating the tools offered by service providers, their presence in Argentina and their experience in similar migrations.
Vista Oil is a company that has data centers in three locations in Argentina, and subsidiary sectors close to said locations. Therefore, the provision of connectivity and low latency of connectivity to the Cloud provider was an important point to consider. At the same time, Vista Oil is a World Class company, so being able to make services available in global regions was one more reason to consolidate the decision.
Finally, in mid-2020, it was decided to migrate to Google Cloud services, with Zentricx being the partner chosen to support this process.
So, the reason why Vista Oil decided to opt for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services instead of continuing to maintain its own data centers was because the costs of the GCP service are much cheaper than the costs of maintaining a data center. . In addition, with GCP a maintenance team is not required as in the case of an own data center, which results in greater efficiency and cost savings for the company.
THE SOLUTION
The solution that was implemented consisted of planning and executing the data center exit plan, migrating virtual servers in VMware and some physical servers to equivalent instances in the cloud. For this, the Migration for Compute Engine service was used, which was previously known as Velostrata. Velostrata is a company that developed software to support migrations from local infrastructure to the cloud.
Google acquired Velostrata and integrated its technology into its collection of services due to the ease and robustness of the migration process it proposes.
The migration to Google Cloud through Velostrata involved configuring appliances on ESX clusters, creating VPN tunnels, and configuring projects by applications, followed by performing the migrations. The process lasted eight months and was carried out with very few setbacks thanks to the strength of Google Cloud, the experience of migration partners, and the commitment of Vista Oil's IT team.
Differential of the solution or process:
This project was developed applying the Agile methodology; Weekly follow-up meetings were held together with the client and communication via Slack was used to keep everyone involved informed. Thanks to this methodology, the project was completed in a timely manner.
The implementation of a PMO process in the Vista Oil IT team during the Google Cloud configuration and migration process was an important innovation.
This process allowed for fluid communication even though the entire team was working remotely, and weekly meetings were planned to set clear objectives.
The level of trust generated in the team through the PMO methodology allowed each project milestone to be met effectively and in an adequate time.
In comparison, without the implementation of a seamless communication network based on a PMO methodology, the project might not have been predictable and, in the long run, could possibly have failed due to lack of visibility. Therefore, implementing a PMO methodology was a successful practice for Vista Oil's IT team on this project.
Solution Implementation:
The initial configuration of the platform was carried out following Google best practices, starting with the creation of the organization, the integration of the directory service to the Google IAM, the configuration of appropriate networking and then the implementation of the migration itself . This execution order is commonly used by companies that plan to migrate their workloads to the cloud.
Once the migration process was completed, a consumption analysis was carried out to execute the first instance of cost reduction, which consisted of the advance purchase of resources through Google Cloud Commitment to Use Discounts (CUD). The Google Cloud console also features a usage-based recommendation system to help users make commitments and save costs by pre-purchasing resources.
THE RESULTS
- A more comfortable and practical system since a maintenance team is not required as with a Data center. Having a cloud-based IT system eliminates all the obligations required to maintain and manage an infrastructure of this type.
- Easy adaptability.
- Mobility: The technology itself facilitates access from different platforms anywhere and anytime.
- Greater agility: It is capable of adapting its resources to new needs in an agile way, promoting the availability of new applications, changes in resources and services.
- Reduction of infrastructure costs.
The strategy of reengineering workloads towards managed services and workflows aligned with the Cloud Native concept is a good approach to make the most of Google Cloud services. Migrating first at the “server” level to instances is a good way to start reducing costs and improving efficiency, and then perform per-application analysis to continue reducing costs.
The Managed services post-migration stage is an opportunity to further optimize GCP services and be more efficient. There are many tools in the GCP world that can help achieve this, such as task automation, monitoring, and cost management.
Cost optimization within GCP is an important and ongoing goal. Some ways to achieve this include planning resource usage, implementing cost management policies, identifying areas of opportunity for optimization, and using GCP tools and services to reduce costs.
VIEW OIL & GAS
Vista is a leading independent operator, with its main assets in Vaca Muerta, the largest shale oil and shale gas play under development outside of North America.
The company was listed as a SPAC in Mexico in 2017 and on the NYSE in 2019, after having acquired two companies with an operating platform in Argentina in 2018.
ZENTRICX
Zentricx is a company that transforms and sees business beyond data (Going Beyond Data-Driven). We think, we innovate, encouraging our clients to rediscover and enhance their products and services.
