Lift and Shift
Move workloads from a source environment to a target environment with minor or no modifications or refactoring
Ideal when
- A workload can operate as-is in the target environment
- Little or no business needs have to change
Considerations
- Requires the least amount of time because the amount of refactoring is kept to a minimum
- Team can continue to use the same set of tools and skills that they were using before
- Doesn’t take full advantage of cloud platform features
Move and Improve
Modernize the workload while migrating to take advantage of cloud native capibilities
Ideal when
- Architecture or Infrastructure of an app isn’t supported in the target environment
- A major update to the workload is necessary
Considerations
- Take longer than lift and shift migrations
- Must be refactored in order for the app to migrate
- Extra time and effort as part of the life cycle of the app
- Requires that you learn new skills
Rip and Replace
Decommission an existing app and completely redesign and rewrite it as a cloud native app
Ideal when:
- Current app isn’t meeting your goals
- You want to remove legacy technical debt
Considerations
- Requires the most amount of time to develop
- Requires the most amount of learning