Written by Maxime Roth Fessler, DevOps & Backend Developer at TrackIt
Migrating workloads to the cloud has become a strategic priority for organizations aiming to reduce on-premise infrastructure costs, enhance scalability, and leverage cloud-native services. For many, this journey begins by transitioning existing VMware virtual machines to Amazon EC2.
Once the decision to migrate has been made, the next step is to determine the best approach.
This article outlines two primary options for moving VMware VMs to EC2:
- Manual Migration – Export the VM as a .raw disk image and import it into AWS.
- Managed Migration – Use AWS Application Migration Service (MGN), a fully managed service built to streamline and accelerate large-scale migrations.
Each approach offers distinct advantages. The optimal choice depends on the specific objectives, timeline, and technical considerations of the migration project. The sections below provide a closer look at both methods.
Contents
Reasons to Move from VMware to Amazon EC2
Migrating from a VMware environment to Amazon EC2 is more than a technical upgrade; it represents a strategic move to reduce costs, enhance agility, and modernize IT operations. One of the most immediate benefits is the significant reduction in expenses, particularly due to the high licensing fees associated with VMware. AWS removes the need for proprietary hypervisor licenses, offering a more transparent, usage-based pricing model.
Elastic Scalability and High Availability
Amazon EC2 enables elastic scaling of compute resources in real time, a capability that is difficult to achieve with the fixed capacity of on-premises VMware clusters. In terms of resiliency, AWS provides native high availability across Availability Zones and Regions, reducing both the complexity and cost of traditional disaster recovery setups.
EC2 also offers a broad range of instance types tailored for compute, memory, and GPU-intensive workloads. With deep integration across the AWS ecosystem including storage, networking, monitoring, automation, and security. EC2 delivers operational efficiency and innovation that legacy VMware environments often find difficult to match.
Modern DevOps Tooling and Infrastructure as Code
Modern DevOps tooling and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capabilities further strengthen the value proposition. IaC marks a shift from manual infrastructure management to a declarative, version-controlled, and repeatable provisioning model. Tools such as AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, and AWS CDK make it possible to define infrastructure in code repositories with full traceability and automation. This approach streamlines deployments, improves velocity, and significantly reduces configuration drift and human error.
IaC also plays a pivotal role in disaster recovery strategies. Instead of maintaining complex documentation or relying on legacy recovery scripts, it becomes possible to rebuild complete environments in minutes using code across accounts, regions, or even continents.
Migration as a First Step to Cloud-Native Maturity
Transitioning virtual machines to Amazon EC2 often serves as a foundational move that sets the stage for broader cloud adoption. While EC2 supports a straightforward lift-and-shift strategy from traditional infrastructure, it also opens the path to long-term modernization.
Once workloads are stabilized in the cloud, applications can be gradually refactored to leverage containers (using ECS or EKS), serverless computing with AWS Lambda, or fully managed services such as RDS, DynamoDB, and S3.
This phased modernization approach enables progress at a manageable pace, avoiding the disruption of a complete re-architecture from the outset. As the transformation advances, the resulting architecture supports improved scalability, shorter development cycles, and enhanced system resilience – key characteristics of cloud-native maturity.
Migration Strategies: Image Import vs. Continuous Replication
Multiple methods exist for migrating virtual machines to Amazon EC2, and selecting the most suitable option depends on factors such as migration scale, required level of control, and the desired depth of integration with AWS tooling.
One option is a low-level, image-based approach using VM Import/Export. This involves exporting VMware virtual machines as raw disk images and importing them manually into EC2. This method provides fine-grained control and is well-suited for individual workloads or environments with specialized configuration requirements.
Alternatively, AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) offers a fully managed, replication-based solution designed for larger-scale migrations. It continuously replicates virtual machines into AWS and streamlines cutover operations, making it an effective choice for reducing complexity and accelerating migration timelines.
The following section outlines how each method functions and the scenarios in which one may be more appropriate than the other.
Disk-Based Migration Using VM Import/Export
One method for migrating VMware workloads to Amazon EC2 is through AWS VM Import/Export. This approach involves exporting a virtual machine into a disk image format such as .raw, uploading it to an S3 bucket, and then importing it into EC2 as a custom Amazon Machine Image (AMI). It is particularly well-suited for scenarios requiring full control over the migration process, or for environments with strict compliance and auditability requirements where step-by-step transparency is critical.
VM Import/Export is especially effective for highly customized virtual machines—those with unique OS configurations, partitioning schemes, or bootloaders that may not align with the assumptions of automated migration tools. It is also appropriate for air-gapped environments or where organizational policies limit the use of automation.
This method supports the standardization and reuse of VM images across multiple AWS regions or accounts, improving portability and enabling consistent workload deployment through version-controlled AMIs.
Despite these advantages, the manual nature of the process can become burdensome at scale. Tasks such as image conversion, naming convention enforcement, and validation of networking and IAM configurations must be handled manually or through custom scripting. For this reason, VM Import/Export is often chosen for smaller migration projects or for building reusable AMI catalogs in test, QA, or disaster recovery environments.
Lift-and-Shift with AWS Application Migration Service
For organizations seeking to migrate entire workloads efficiently and with minimal reconfiguration, AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) provides a fully managed and scalable solution. MGN continuously replicates source VMware machines into AWS using lightweight agents, maintaining up-to-date system copies that are ready for launch at any point. This approach reduces manual intervention, minimizes downtime, and accelerates migration at scale.
MGN is particularly well-suited for lift-and-shift scenarios where the objective is to move workloads as-is. It includes capabilities such as test launches, right-sizing recommendations, and automated cutovers to support smooth and predictable transitions. Test instances can be launched in isolated VPC environments to validate application behavior prior to production cutover, which is critical for ensuring service continuity and meeting operational expectations.
Automation, Governance, and Post-Migration Readiness
A key advantage of MGN is its support for incremental replication, allowing ongoing synchronization of source system changes until the final cutover. This minimizes data loss and avoids extended downtime windows, making it well-suited for workloads with continuous availability requirements, such as transactional databases and live applications.
In addition, MGN integrates seamlessly with AWS services including Amazon CloudWatch, AWS IAM, and AWS CloudTrail, enabling effective governance, monitoring, and automation from the outset. With features like launch templates and resource tagging, networking, security, and compute configurations can be pre-defined to support repeatable, compliant deployments aligned with cloud architecture best practices.
Overall, MGN is an optimal choice for high-volume migrations where speed, automation, and scalability are essential. It enables a smooth transition from legacy infrastructure to modern cloud operations and lays the groundwork for post-migration optimization and modernization.
Conclusion
Migrating from VMware to Amazon EC2 represents more than a platform change—it marks a strategic shift that enables greater agility, cost efficiency, and long-term innovation. Whether using a low-level, image-based method or adopting the fully managed replication capabilities of AWS Application Migration Service (MGN), the end goal remains consistent: achieving a flexible, scalable cloud foundation capable of evolving alongside organizational needs.
For many enterprises, this transition also serves as a catalyst to reevaluate operational models. Once workloads are stabilized on EC2, modernization efforts can proceed incrementally by adopting containers, managed services, or serverless architectures where appropriate. Migration thus becomes a foundational step toward implementing DevOps practices, codifying infrastructure, and realizing the full potential of cloud-native design.
The journey to the cloud rarely follows a linear or standardized path. Success lies in aligning tools and strategies to the specific context, balancing short-term stability with long-term transformation. Starting with smaller workloads, validating approaches, and scaling gradually allows organizations to build momentum and confidence in the migration process.
This article provided a strategic overview of why and how VMware workloads can be migrated to EC2. A forthcoming article will explore the technical implementation in detail through a step-by-step, hands-on guide.
About TrackIt
TrackIt is an international AWS cloud consulting, systems integration, and software development firm headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA.
We have built our reputation on helping media companies architect and implement cost-effective, reliable, and scalable Media & Entertainment workflows in the cloud. These include streaming and on-demand video solutions, media asset management, and archiving, incorporating the latest AI technology to build bespoke media solutions tailored to customer requirements.
Cloud-native software development is at the foundation of what we do. We specialize in Application Modernization, Containerization, Infrastructure as Code and event-driven serverless architectures by leveraging the latest AWS services. Along with our Managed Services offerings which provide 24/7 cloud infrastructure maintenance and support, we are able to provide complete solutions for the media industry.