Question

A retail company must vacate its on-premises data center in 4 months due to a lease expiration. The portfolio includes 180 Linux and Windows VMs running a mix of custom Java applications, commercial off-the-shelf software, and a few internally developed monoliths. Leadership wants the fastest possible exit with minimal application code changes, but also asks the migration team to identify which applications should be modernized to serverless or containers AFTER the move. Which overall migration approach best balances the deadline with the modernization goal?

Accepted Answer

Rehost all 180 VMs using AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to meet the deadline, then prioritize post-migration refactoring of selected monoliths to containers and serverless.

Answer

Refactor every application into containers on Amazon ECS before migration to avoid a second round of work, accepting a later data center exit if needed.

Answer

Replatform all workloads by moving databases to managed services and re-architecting the Java apps during the initial migration to maximize long-term value.

Answer

Repurchase equivalent SaaS products for all 180 applications to eliminate the need to migrate any infrastructure to AWS.