Simplify and Expedite Migration with AWS MGN

Overview

Cloud migration is booming in the market, and many enterprises are migrating their workloads to AWS. When you are planning to migrate your workloads, you may come across “Cloud Endure.”

In 2019, Amazon acquired Cloud Endure, and a few years later, Amazon launched AWS Server Migration Service. Now, a new player has joined the team, AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN), which is now recommended as the primary migration service for lift-and-shift migrations to AWS.

Migrating the applications on the Cloud successfully could be daunting unless there is a structured migration plan. To know more about the methodology to solve migration challenges and their solutions, click on the below link:

5 Key Cloud Migration Challenges And Their Proven Solutions | CloudThat’s Blog

This blog will help us understand AWS Application Migration Service (MGN), how it works, and how beneficial lift-and-shift migrations are to AWS.

Introduction to AWS Application Migration Service

The AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is a highly automated lift-and-shift (rehost) solution that simplifies, expedites, and lowers the cost of moving applications to AWS. It allows businesses to lift and transfer many physical, virtual, or cloud servers without causing compatibility difficulties, performance degradation, or lengthy cutover intervals.

MGN replicates source servers into your AWS account. When ready, it instantly converts and deploys your servers on AWS, allowing you to reap the benefits of the Cloud’s cost savings, productivity, resilience, and agility. Once your apps are operating on AWS, you may use AWS services and capabilities to rapidly and re-platform or reorganize them, making lift-and-shift a quick path to modernization.

The service makes migration more accessible by allowing you to utilize the same automated approach for several applications. You can be certain that most of your essential programs, such as SAP, Oracle, and SQL Server, will work perfectly on AWS by performing non-disruptive testing before transferring.

Workflow of AWS MGN

Step-by-Step Guide for Agent Installation

Install the AWS MGN Replication Agent on your source servers, then use the AWS MGN interface to inspect and create replication parameters. AWS MGN uses these parameters to construct and maintain a staging area subnet with lightweight Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances that serve as replication servers for data replication between your source servers and AWS.

• Continuous Replication

The replication servers receive data from the source servers’ agents and write it to Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes. EBS encryption compresses and encrypts the duplicated data in transit and at rest. AWS MGN uses continuous block-level data replication to keep your source servers updated on AWS. When you run non-disruptive tests or a cutover, it leverages your preset launch parameters to start instances.

• Cut Over

AWS MGN transforms your source servers to boot and runs natively on AWS when you launch test or cutover instances. Once you have confirmed that your deployed instances are working successfully on AWS, you can decommission your source servers. You may then use AWS services and capabilities to upgrade your app.

Benefits of AWS MGN

AWS Application Migration Service automates the conversion of your source servers from physical, virtual, or cloud infrastructure to run natively on AWS, reducing time-consuming and error-prone manual methods. It makes your transfer even easier by allowing you to utilize the same automated process for various apps.

• Migration with minimal downtime

The business can still run during the replication process with AWS Application Migration Service. It duplicates source servers in real time, with minimal effect on performance. Continuous replication also simplifies non-disruptive testing and reduces cutover time.

• Cost savings

Because there is no need to invest in numerous migration solutions, specialist cloud development, or application-specific expertise, AWS Application Migration Service lowers total migration costs. It is because it can lift and shift any application from any source infrastructure running supported operating systems (OS).

• Access to advanced technology

AWS Application Migration Service integrated with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, and other AWS services can streamline operations and gain more significant insights.

Use Cases of AWS MGN

• Datacenter to cloud migration

Using AWS MGN, we can prevent complications caused due to manual replication, reconfiguration, and rebuilding while moving the virtual and physical server to the AWS cloud.

• Cross-cloud migration

Migrates workloads running on another public or private Cloud to AWS very quickly. The cloud-based servers are converted automatically to run natively on AWS as EC2 instances.

• Cross-region Migration

Any AWS accounts, Availability Zones, or regions can be migrated in a simplified manner.

Pricing of AWS MGN

You can utilize AWS Application Migration Service for a free period of 2,160 hours, which is 90 days when used continuously, for any source server you want to move. Most of the customers migrate the servers within the specified free time, allowing them to take advantage of the free AWS Application Migration Service for each server they migrate.

The free time begins when you install the AWS Replication Agent on your source server and ends when the source server is actively replicated.

If you do not complete your server migration within the free-time period, you will be charged per hour while replicating that server.

You will be charged for any AWS infrastructure deployed by AWS Application Migration Service to allow data replication while your source servers are actively replicating, even during the free period. There can also be charges for resources like computation (Amazon EC2) and storage (Amazon EBS) that are provided when you create test or cutover instances.

Conclusion

This blog summarizes the progeny of Application Migration Service. AWS MGN is recommended for primary lift-and-shift migrations. It simplifies, expedites, and lowers the cost of transferring applications to AWS. AWS MGN could also be used to move physical, virtual, or cloud services to AWS with no compatibility concerns, performance difficulties, downtime, or protracted cutover windows. Applications and databases may be migrated from any source infrastructure that runs supported operating systems. This includes popular databases like Oracle and SQL servers, mission-critical technologies like SAP, and custom applications. AWS MGN supports the popular Windows and Linux operating systems and duplicates their data at the block level in real time.

About CloudThat

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