Version 1.0 of the Azure Data Center Migration Solution, an open source tool developed by Microsoft and Persistent Systems has just been launched.

The tool lets developers move their Azure instances to different data center locations, and is available free from the GitHub code repository. Developers can move instances using their current subscriptions or new ones. The tool is designed for moving Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) deployments and is licensed under the open source Apache 2.0 license.

The Azure Data Center Migration Solution can assist organizations when they are moving an Azure deployment to different Microsoft data center region. It can be used for exporting and importing operations and also as a backup solution.

The solution runs off a command line as either a console app or PowerShell cmdlet. A future graphical user interface is being considered.

Azure Data Center Migration Solution 1.0 has some limitations. The migration process actually happens offline, and so it takes more time to complete a migration than an agent-based approach, such as Vision Solutions’ Double-Take Move product, according to the User Guide.

While the solution can move storage accounts, one exception is virtual machine-independent Blobs - the very same Blobs which were blamed for the recent Azure multiple data centre outages. Blobs require a manual copying process. Web roles and worker roles details are excluded in the migration process.