Migration benefits and strategies

AWS provides a framework (AWS CAF) to plan cloud adoption, standard migration strategies (the 7 Rs), and tools and programs to help you migrate.

AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF)

• AWS CAF organizes guidance into six perspectives. Business, People, and Governance are business-focused; Platform, Security, and Operations are technical.
• Business outcomes AWS CAF highlights: reduced business risk, improved environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, increased revenue, and increased operational efficiency.
• Transformation domains in AWS CAF: technology, process, organization, and product.

Migration strategies (the 7 Rs)

• Rehost (lift and shift): Move servers as-is, often with AWS Application Migration Service. Fastest path, little optimization.
• Replatform (lift and reshape): Make a few cloud optimizations without changing core architecture, for example moving a self-managed database to Amazon RDS.
• Refactor / re-architect: Rebuild using cloud-native features (for example, serverless) for agility and scale. Most effort.
• Repurchase: Move to a different product, typically SaaS.
• Relocate: Move infrastructure to the cloud without buying new hardware or rewriting, for example VMware workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS.
• Retain: Keep in the current environment for now.
• Retire: Decommission applications that are no longer needed.

Why migrate: common benefits

• Lower total cost of ownership by retiring owned hardware and paying only for what you use.
• Faster time to market and more innovation, because new environments and managed services are available on demand.
• Improved resilience and security posture by building on AWS's global infrastructure and audited controls.
• Staff productivity: people spend less time on undifferentiated work like hardware maintenance and more on the business.
• Sustainability: AWS data centers are typically more energy efficient than small on-premises facilities.

Resources for the migration journey

• Database replication: AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) keeps the source database running while it copies and continuously replicates data to the target, minimizing downtime.
• AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT): Converts a database schema from one engine to another (heterogeneous migrations), used with AWS DMS.
• AWS Application Discovery Service: Collects data about on-premises servers to plan a migration.
• Migration Evaluator: Builds a data-driven business case (projected cost) for moving to AWS.
• AWS Migration Hub: One place to track migration progress across tools. Note: AWS closed it to new customers on November 7, 2025 and points new projects to AWS Transform, but it remains on the exam guide's in-scope list.
• People and programs: AWS Professional Services, AWS Partners, and the Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) provide expertise and funding support.