VMware vSphere to AWS Blueprint
Two-path vSphere exit to AWS: relocate VMs to VMware Cloud on AWS with HCX for speed, or rehost natively to EC2 with AWS MGN for cloud economics. Includes landing zone, validation, and post-migration optimization.
What and Why
This blueprint moves a VMware vSphere environment to AWS. Two paths exist: relocate VMs largely unchanged to VMware Cloud on AWS (a managed vSphere SDDC) for the fastest exit, or rehost natively to EC2 to capture full cloud economics. Many programs relocate first to hit deadlines, then re-platform selectively.
Phases
Assessment. Inventory the vSphere estate with RVTools and AWS Migration Evaluator. Capture VM sizing, vSAN and datastore usage, network segmentation, and licensing. Decide relocate versus rehost per workload.
Connectivity. Establish Direct Connect or VPN, an AWS landing zone, and (for the relocate path) provision a VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC with HCX configured for bulk and vMotion-style migration.
Relocate or rehost. For relocation, use VMware HCX to bulk-migrate VMs into the SDDC with minimal change. For native rehosting, use AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to replicate VMDKs into EC2 instances, mapping vSphere sizing to instance families.
Validation. Test application functionality, performance, and DR in the target before cutover. Keep continuous replication so cutover windows are minutes, not hours.
Optimization. Right-size EC2, adopt Savings Plans, and migrate datastores to EBS, S3, and FSx as appropriate. Refactor candidates toward managed services over time.
Key Risks and Mitigations
- vSphere-specific dependencies (custom networking, appliances) complicate native rehost. Relocate those to VMware Cloud on AWS first.
- Large VMDK transfer times. Seed with Snowball and use HCX bulk migration.
- Cost of VMware Cloud on AWS can exceed native. Treat relocation as a bridge and set a re-platform roadmap.
- Operational gap between vSphere and native AWS. Enablement and runbooks before cutover.
Recommended Tooling
VMware HCX, AWS MGN, RVTools for inventory, Terraform for the landing zone, AWS Backup, and an observability stack such as Datadog.
Success Metrics
Track VMs migrated per wave, cost reduction versus the on-prem vSphere baseline, availability through cutover, and mean time to recovery.
Prerequisites
vCenter access and an RVTools export, an AWS landing zone, Direct Connect or VPN, and a decision matrix for relocate versus rehost per workload.