How to Use AWS for VMware Migration to EC2

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If you’re looking to move your VMware workloads to Amazon EC2, AWS offers a service called AWS Transform for VMware that can help you do this easily. This tool is designed specifically to rehost your VMware environment so it runs natively on Amazon EC2, which can save you money by reducing VMware licensing costs.

Here’s how you can go about this migration step by step:

Start by installing Application Discovery Service (ADS) agents on your current VMware servers. These agents gather essential data about your existing systems.

Next, set up the AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) connector if you choose to use it, though this step is optional.

Then, prepare your target network area by configuring the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and subnets where your workloads will reside on AWS.

Once your environment is ready, enable AWS Transform. This service will analyze your VMware setup and help plan the migration.

Create your migration jobs and start them. These jobs will move your virtual machines to EC2 instances in the background.

After the initial migration, launch test instances to verify everything is working as expected, then proceed with the cutover to make the switch permanent.

AWS Transform provides three main methods for discovering your VMware environment:

– Assisted discovery through collectors from the AWS Application Discovery Service.
– Using an open-source tool called Export for vCenter.
– Importing your own collected discovery data.

The service uses artificial intelligence to map your VMware network configuration to an Amazon VPC. It then creates a migration plan, grouping applications and suggesting the best times to perform waves of migration, making the entire process more manageable.

If your goal is to move your VMware workloads onto a VMware environment hosted on AWS, rather than directly to EC2, you’ll want to consider tools like Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS), which is designed specifically for that purpose.

For more guidance, you can review resources like the AWS blog on simplifying server migration, the AWS VMware services page, or the official AWS documentation on VMware migration.