When to Choose AWS Application Migration Service

For many use cases, AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN) can be the fastest route to the cloud.

With AWS MGN, you can migrate your applications from physical infrastructure, VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), and other clouds to AWS.

AWS MGN currently supports the following AWS Regions: US East (Ohio), US East (N. Virginia), US West (N. California), US West (Oregon), Africa (Cape Town), Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), Europe (London), Europe (Milan), Europe (Paris), Europe (Stockholm), Middle East (Bahrain), and South America (São Paulo). 

Please refer to the AWS Regional Services List for the most up-to-date information on Region support.

You can use AWS MGN to migrate all your applications and databases that run on supported versions of Windows and Linux operating systems.

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Which use cases may require a different migration service?

If your preferred destination is an AWS GovCloud or China Region, consider using CloudEndure Migration.

To use CloudEndure Migration to migrate to AWS GovCloud Regions, register for a CloudEndure Migration account.

To use CloudEndure Migration to migrate to AWS China Regions, please open a Support ticket.

Note: While CloudEndure Migration will continue to be available for use in AWS GovCloud and China Regions, it will no longer be available in other AWS Regions as of December 30, 2022. Learn more

What are the main differences between AWS Application Migration Service and CloudEndure Migration?

AWS Application Migration Service is the next generation of CloudEndure Migration, and offers key features and operational benefits that are not available with CloudEndure Migration. For example, with AWS Application Migration Service you can:

  • Operate the service from the AWS Management Console.
  • Control permissions and access using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).
  • Operate the service without a connection to the public internet.
  • Store your migration metadata in the same AWS Region as your migrated instances.
  • Utilize an agentless replication option (for vCenter), if needed.
  • Use a new API that is better suited for migration-specific workflows, as well as a CLI and SDKs.
  • Use Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail to monitor AWS Application Migration Service.
  • Better control how your test and cutover instances are launched using Amazon EC2 launch templates (rather than Blueprints).
  • Use tags to organize your source servers and control access permissions.
  • Automate modernizations to your migrated applications.

AWS Application Migration Service is not yet supported in AWS GovCloud and China Regions, and does not currently support some legacy operating systems that are supported by CloudEndure Migration. Consider using CloudEndure Migration if your preferred AWS Region or operating system is not currently supported by AWS Application Migration Service.

Note: While CloudEndure Migration will continue to be available for use in AWS GovCloud and China Regions, it will no longer be available in other AWS Regions as of December 30, 2022. Learn more

Detailed comparison of AWS Application Migration Service and CloudEndure Migration

Capability     CloudEndure Migration AWS Application Migration Service
(AWS MGN)

Console & APIs

Proprietary console and APIs
  • Part of AWS Management Console
  • Standard AWS APIs, SDK, and CLI
  • Console functions similarly to all other services in AWS Management Console
Resource management
  • Legacy projects
  • Legacy blueprints, not up to date with EC2
  • Standard AWS mechanism (tags or accounts)
  • Launch settings and standard EC2 launch templates (instead of blueprints)
  • Eliminates latency between EC2 launch of new instance types and their support in AWS MGN launch configuration  
User management
and monitoring
  • Proprietary user management
  • 3 available pre-set, non-configurable user profiles
  • Selected 52 events in legacy format
  • No access to metrics
  • Standard AWS user management mechanism (IAM)
  • Standard AWS audit mechanism (CloudTrail) with full coverage
  • Standard AWS metrics mechanism (including custom event notifications via CloudWatch Events)
  • IAM provides granular configurable authorization for specific APIs and AWS MGN resources
Consumption model

Free for migrations completed within 90 days, then blocked
  • Free for migrations completed within 90 days, then metering via AWS billing
  • See AWS MGN pricing page for more information
Price

Free

Free for servers for which migration is completed within 90 days
Control plane
  • The control plane for all commercial Regions is hosted in US East (N. Virginia)
  • The control plane for China is hosted in China (Beijing)
  • The control plane is hosted in the target Region
  • Compliance benefit
  • Higher availability due to no cross-Region dependencies
Public internet access

Required for connection between replication servers and console
  • Supports private link for replication and failback
  • Security benefit
Agentless replication

No

Yes, supported for vCenter 6.7 and 7.0
AWS Region to Region replication

Yes

Yes
No rescan on reboot

Windows only

No
Operating system support
  • Common operating systems are supported
  • Detailed list available in the documentation
  • Common operating systems are supported
  • The following OSs that are supported by CloudEndure Migration are not supported by AWS MGN: Microsoft Windows XP, 7, Vista; Debian Linux 8; RHEL Linux 5.0
  • Detailed list available in the documentation
In scope for the following compliance programs
Start/stop/pause/resume replication

Yes

No
Auto-detection of added disks

Yes

No
CloudEndure Migration Factory

Yes

Yes
Support for Outposts

Yes

No
AWS GovCloud (US) Region

Yes

No
China Region

Yes

No
Security

Secured according to AWS security policies

Secured according to AWS security policies
Availability

The CloudEndure Migration control plane is hosted in US East (N. Virginia) so the service relies on this Region's availability, in addition to the target Region
  • The service is fully hosted on each of the supported AWS Regions
  • No dependency on other Regions
AWS CloudShell pricing
Accelerate your migration

Learn how to accelerate your large-scale migration to AWS with the AWS Migration Acceleration Program.

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