VMware Freedom: VMware to Native AWS Migration by Firemind

Overview: Leaving VMware is a chance to stop running servers you do not need. Moving every machine as it is keeps the same estate on a new bill. Modernising everything at once misses the renewal date. Built on Firemind's IT Operations Engine, this service runs the migration as governed code in your AWS account, and the same Engine runs each workload once it lands.

Four stages, contracted together or separately

• Assess. Discovery built on your RVTools export, vCenter and, optionally, your source control, with a modernisation path for every machine. Aligned to the Assess phase of the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP): a readiness assessment based on the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework, a migration path for every workload, a business case with an AWS Pricing Calculator estimate, and a wave plan.
• Mobilize. Landing zone readiness, detailed discovery and planning for the first waves, a pilot migration, and MAP tagging set up so migrated workloads are tracked from day one.
• Migrate. Database servers moved to Amazon RDS or Amazon Aurora, application tiers to Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS or AWS Lambda, file servers to Amazon FSx, and the rest rehosted to Amazon EC2 with AWS Transform for VMware or AWS Application Migration Service.
• Operate. The Engine runs the migrated workloads: monitoring, incident remediation, patching and decay management such as end-of-life runtimes, with high-risk changes held for a named approver. Each wave lands in operations the day it passes acceptance.

Validated and governed

Every wave starts with acceptance tests agreed with your team: functional checks, performance baselines and data comparisons wherever data moves. They run before and after cutover, and every wave has a tested rollback. The Engine plans each change, raises it as code and runs it under your change rules. Low-risk, reversible steps run automatically. Cutovers and other high-risk changes wait for a named approver. Every action is recorded in an immutable audit trail and in your own AWS CloudTrail.

What is in scope

• A path per workload sequenced against your renewal date, with rehost as the fallback
• Replatforming of database, application and file servers to managed AWS services
• Application changes for containers or serverless, raised as pull requests for your review
• Network conversion from port groups, VLANs and segments to an Amazon VPC design
• Post-migration operations for a year or longer through the Operate stage

What stays out of scope

VMware licence negotiation and contract exits stay with you. Rewriting applications in a new language stays out of scope unless agreed in the private offer. Workloads that need to stay on VMware for now go to our Amazon EVS migration service.

AWS programmes: Firemind holds the AWS Migration and Modernization Competency. Eligible migrations may qualify for MAP funding, and Firemind prepares the MAP documentation with your AWS account team. VMware migrations into native AWS services may qualify for additional MAP incentives. Eligibility and funding are confirmed by AWS.

How it starts: After the private offer is accepted, you grant read-only access to your vCenter inventory and, optionally, your source control and deploy an IAM role in your AWS account using AWS CloudFormation. A full description of the role and its policy statements is provided before deployment. The Engine uses temporary credentials, and every action is recorded in your own AWS CloudTrail. Scope, acceptance tests and named approvers are agreed at the start of each stage.

Deployment: Pilot scopes run from Firemind's AWS environment. In production the Engine runs inside your own AWS accounts. Running the Engine, and the migrated workloads, may incur AWS infrastructure charges, for example Amazon Bedrock, compute and storage. These are billed separately from this AWS Marketplace transaction and are your responsibility.

Pricing: Delivered through an AWS Marketplace private offer, scoped to your estate. The four stages can be contracted together or separately. Contact hello@firemind.com  to scope.

About Firemind: AWS Premier Tier Services Partner with the AWS Migration and Modernization Competency. 200+ clients since 2018, ISO 27001 certified, in partnership with AWS, NVIDIA and Anthropic. Core markets: UK and Ireland, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.