Migration Planning

Bundled into the existing Professional Cloud Architect premium course — no separate purchase.

Included in this chapter:

Workload / data class	Tool	Migration path it serves	Cutover behavior
VM (VMware / AWS / Azure / on-prem)	Migrate to Virtual Machines	Rehost (lift and shift)	Disk replication, test-clone validation, then cutover
Relational database	Database Migration Service	Rehost or replatform to managed DB	Continuous CDC replication, near-zero downtime cutover
Bulk object data (online)	Storage Transfer Service	Supports any path; data movement	Scheduled or one-time online copy to Cloud Storage
Bulk object data (offline)	Transfer Appliance	Supports any path; data movement	Ship hardware; Google uploads to Cloud Storage
Inventory / dependency / TCO	Migration Center	Decides the path per asset	Assessment only, no data moved

Cheat sheet

Migrate in four phases: assess, plan, deploy, optimize
Assign a migration path per workload, not one path for the estate
Place each path on the effort-versus-benefit ladder
Rehost (lift and shift) when the deadline or workload forbids change
Replatform (move and improve) to gain cloud benefit during the move
Migration Center is the assess-and-plan tool, and moves no data
Use Migrate to Virtual Machines to lift VMs into Compute Engine
Use Database Migration Service for minimal-downtime database moves
DMS supports heterogeneous moves like Oracle to PostgreSQL
Choose online vs offline transfer by bandwidth and deadline, not size
Use Transfer Appliance when bandwidth cannot meet the deadline
Cost the licenses as part of the migration's financial impact
Repurchase to a managed service to stop operating the workload
Retire unused or duplicate apps instead of migrating them
Read the constraint first in a migration scenario
Use the mcdc CLI for offline assessment when data cannot leave on-premises
Plan migration waves by value/effort and group interdependent workloads into move groups
Transfer Appliance supports CMEK and provides a wipe certificate after erasure
Storage Transfer Service: agent pools, sync-delete, manifests, and Pub/Sub notifications

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Cheat sheet