What is a cloud exit?
A cloud exit is the planned move of applications, data and supporting services off one cloud provider, onto another provider or onto your own servers. It covers compute, storage, networking, DNS, identity and pipelines. A good exit keeps the service running, loses no data and ends with the old account switched off.
Think of moving house. Furniture is easy to load into a van. The hard part is everything built into the walls: the fitted kitchen, the wiring, the address on every letter you receive. In a cloud, those built-in parts are the provider-specific services your applications depend on.
Why plan an exit before you need one?
An exit plan written in a calm month is cheaper than one written in a crisis. Prices change, a service gets retired, or the team wants to consolidate on one platform. If nobody knows what depends on what, every one of those events turns into a long project.
The plan also shapes daily choices. Teams that know they might leave pick open interfaces, keep infrastructure in code and avoid services with no equivalent elsewhere.
What makes a cloud exit hard?
Proprietary services
Upstream Kubernetes, the S3 API, PostgreSQL and Helm charts move with little change. A provider’s own queue, serverless runtime, database engine or identity system does not. Each one needs a replacement and a code change, so they set the length of the project.
Data gravity and transfer cost
Large datasets are slow to copy, and moving them out costs money wherever the provider charges for outbound traffic. Copy incrementally with checksums while the old system stays live, so the final sync is small.
Hidden dependencies
Hard-coded endpoints, DNS records, TLS certificates, IAM policies and monitoring hooks are easy to miss. An inventory before the move finds them. Infrastructure as code helps, because the configuration is written down instead of living in a console.
How does a cloud exit run?
Most exits follow the same shape, with no big-bang switch:
- Inventory workloads, data and dependencies, then agree on a target and a date.
- Move one non-critical service first, so the team learns the new platform.
- Run both platforms in parallel and keep data in sync while you test.
- Lower DNS TTLs at least one old TTL before cutover, so resolvers drop cached records quickly.
- Cut over in a planned window with a written rollback plan, and keep the old platform until you sign off.
How enum handles a cloud exit
enum Migration moves Kubernetes clusters, VMs, PaaS apps and S3 storage in four phases: assessment, pilot, parallel run and a planned cutover with a rollback plan. enum runs upstream Kubernetes and an S3-compatible API, so manifests and Helm charts usually run as they are, and the same standards keep a later exit from enum open.
FAQ
How long does a cloud exit take? It depends on scope. Moving object storage can take days, while a Kubernetes estate with many services usually takes weeks. Every proprietary service you replace adds time, so inventory them first.
Is there downtime during a cloud exit? Usually very little. Both platforms run in parallel and traffic moves step by step. Stateful parts, often databases, may need a short planned window for the final sync and switch.
Do we need to change application code? Usually not for portable parts. Manifests and Helm charts mostly run as they are, apart from storage class names and load balancer annotations. For S3 you change the endpoint and credentials. Provider-specific services need code changes.