Cloud Application Migration Strategies The 6 Rs

As I looked at the lineup of speakers for AWS re:Invent, I took the time to read more about them. When I came across a blog post by Stephen Orban Head of Enterprise Strategy at AWS Considering a Mass Migration to the Cloud? In this blog post, I really liked the way he explained the different Cloud Application Migration Strategies “The 6 Rs”.

Applications can be migrated to the cloud in a number of different ways, and, as with the “Migration Process,” there can be many shades of gray; but we find these 6 Cloud Application Migration Strategies (approaches) to be the most common:

Rehosting (otherwise known as “lift-and-shift”)

Replatforming (I sometimes call this “lift-tinker-and-shift”)

Repurchasing (migrate to a different product/license, often SaaS)

Refactoring (re-architect or re-imagine leveraging cloud-native capabilities)

Retire (get rid of)

Retain (do nothing, usually “revisit later”). (Note: These strategies build upon the 5 R’s that Gartner outlined here in 2011.)

Cloud Application migration strategies the 6 Rs — Source: https://medium.com/aws-enterprise-collection/considering-a-mass-migration-to-the-cloud-290a8e173eda#.4bql371yw

I would encourage you to read the original post. Considering a Mass Migration to the Cloud?

At the End of his blog were some great additional Cloud Application Migration Strategy best Practices references, which he promises to add too over time.

An E-Book of Cloud Best Practices for Your Enterprise.
21 Best Practices for Your Cloud Migration by Sadegh Nadimi, a migration specialist from the AWS Professional Services team.
A View from the Trenches by Chris Wegmann, Managing Director of the Accenture AWS Business Group.

AWS reInvent 2016

Next Week AWS re:Invent 2016 is upon us. Anyone who is serious about the Cloud will be there. If you have not purchased tickets to attend, then its too late. The AWS re:Invent event is sold out.