Published by Impress IT Solutions | Houston, TX | www.impresscomputers.com
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When an engineering firm’s IT environment is running on a cloud platform managed by someone else, the risks are real: limited visibility, no documentation, and software dependencies that most IT providers have never touched. That was exactly the situation we walked into.
A Houston-area civil and structural engineering firm reached out to Impress IT Solutions to take over their managed IT — and migrate their entire environment out of a legacy AWS deployment and into Microsoft Azure. The catch? Active projects. Active deadlines. And applications that engineers depend on every single day: AutoCAD/Civil 3D, ArcGIS, Bentley applications (MicroStation, OpenRoads), and H&H modeling software including HEC-RAS, SWMM, and StormCAD.
Here’s how we did it — and what other engineering firms should know.
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The Challenge: Engineering IT Isn’t Generic IT
Most cloud migrations involve moving file servers, email, and maybe a line-of-business app. Engineering migrations are different.
CAD applications like AutoCAD Civil 3D and Bentley MicroStation are extraordinarily sensitive to storage I/O latency. Open a drawing over a slow file share and the application stalls — or crashes. GIS platforms like ArcGIS Server have complex geodatabase dependencies that, if migrated incorrectly, result in corrupted spatial data. H&H modeling tools like HEC-RAS produce numerical outputs that feed directly into regulatory submissions — any change in output values, even minor ones, can create significant problems for the firm’s clients and permitting timelines.
Then there are licensing complexities. Autodesk’s Network License Manager (NLM) and Bentley’s SELECT License Server are tied to the hostname of their host servers. Move the server, get the migration sequence wrong, and you can silently invalidate engineering software licenses across the entire organization — mid-project.
We had to get all of this right. And we had to do it without taking anything offline during the process.
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Our Approach: Build Everything First, Then Cut Over
Rather than attempting a lift-and-shift migration, Impress IT Solutions designed a parallel-build strategy:
Build the entire Azure environment from scratch while AWS remained fully live
Establish a site-to-site VPN tunnel between AWS and Azure for data synchronization
Migrate and validate each application individually
Execute staged user cutovers — early mornings, before engineers log on
Decommission AWS only after each service was confirmed stable in Azure
This approach gave us the safety net to test everything in production conditions without creating risk for the client.
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Phase 1: Four Weeks of Build-Out
Week 1 was foundation work: Azure tenancy setup via Nerdio, virtual network architecture, VPN Gateway deployment, and establishing the AWS-to-Azure site-to-site IPsec tunnel. We also conducted a full software audit — the first time anyone had documented what was actually running in the AWS environment.
Week 2 focused on application servers: deploying the RDS host (GPU-enabled Azure NV-series VM with NVIDIA GRID for 3D rendering), ArcGIS Server on a compute-optimized VM, the Autodesk NLM and Bentley SELECT License Server, and the Appgate SDP zero-trust access gateway with Azure AD SAML integration.
Week 3 addressed storage and field connectivity. We provisioned Azure Premium File Shares (SSD-backed) for the CAD drawing repository and validated latency benchmarks — this step is non-negotiable for CAD workflows. We also configured all 16 Cradlepoint routers at field sites, including an on-site visit to set up a Starlink terminal in IP passthrough mode for one remote project location.
Week 4 was testing and user acceptance: Acronis Cyber Backup across all VMs, end-to-end application walkthroughs, and side-by-side H&H model runs to confirm numerical output parity before we committed to decommissioning AWS.
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Phase 2: Five-Day Cutover Sprint
With the Azure environment fully built and validated, we executed the cutover in five consecutive days.
Day 1 (Aug 31): AutoCAD/Civil 3D and Bentley cutover — 7am on-site, drawing library switched, NLM and SELECT License Server pointers updated, all users on new Azure RDS environment by mid-morning.
Day 2 (Sep 1): ArcGIS migration — geodatabase import, map services republished, REST endpoints validated, all GIS users switched.
Day 3 (Sep 2): H&H modeling rollout — project files migrated to Azure file share, AVD deployed, model outputs validated against AWS baseline.
Day 4 (Sep 3): Supporting services — print server with large-format plotters, Egnyte document scanning sync, DNS cutover, printer reconfiguration.
Day 5 (Sep 4): AWS decommission — phased server shutdowns, FSMO role seizure, domain controller demotion, full AWS instance termination.
Migration complete. Zero unplanned downtime.
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What We Learned (And What Other Engineering Firms Should Know)
1. License coordination must start in Week 1, not Week 4. Bentley and Autodesk license teams both need lead time when a license server is moving. Call them early.
2. CAD storage tier matters enormously. Standard Azure file shares (HDD-backed) are not sufficient for CAD workloads. Premium File Shares with SMB Multichannel are the minimum viable configuration. Benchmark before you commit.
3. H&H model output validation is a formal acceptance criterion. If your models feed regulatory deliverables, side-by-side output comparison is not optional. Build it into the project plan.
4. GPU VM availability requires early quota requests. Azure NV-series VMs are not always available in every region at every size. Request quota increases in Week 1.
5. Zero-trust access is a better fit than VPN for engineering firms. Appgate SDP with Azure AD SAML gave us per-application access policies for employees, subconsultants, and field staff — something a traditional VPN profile cannot provide.
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The Result
A Houston engineering firm now runs a fully managed, GPU-accelerated Azure environment — with AutoCAD/Civil 3D, ArcGIS, Bentley, and H&H tools all operational, all backed up daily via Acronis, and all accessible securely via zero-trust remote access. Their legacy AWS environment is fully decommissioned. And not a single active project was interrupted.
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Impress IT Solutions is a Houston-based MSP specializing in cloud migrations and managed IT for engineering, construction, and professional services firms.
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