How to Migrate from Azure to AWS Cloud: A Step-by-Step Guide

Cloud environments provide businesses with the flexibility to innovate, integrate, and scale as they undergo digital transformation. To maximize the benefits of your cloud platform, it must align with your specific business goals and needs. If you’re considering migrating from Azure to AWS, start by assessing your current investments and determining whether a lift-and-shift approach or AWS-native modernization is the right fit for your organization.

Benefits of Migrating from Azure to AWS

Migrating from Azure to AWS offers many benefits including, cost savings, reliability, flexibility, scalability, and security, depending on business needs and existing Azure infrastructure.

Cost Efficiency

Cloud costs are highly dependent on how resources are used and the specific requirements of an organization. While public cloud can often be more cost-effective than private cloud or on-premises environments, this depends on factors such as workload type, licensing, and optimization strategies—rather than the cloud provider alone.

However, there are certain AWS services and pricing models that can make it more cost-efficient than Azure in specific scenarios. For example, AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) can offer slightly higher discounts than Azure RIs. Additionally, AWS provides greater flexibility with Savings Plans and Spot Instances, which can deliver deeper discounts, but pricing varies based on market demand.

Once migrated to AWS, customers can leverage built-in cost optimization tools, like the following.

• AWS Cost Explorer for analyzing and forecasting cloud spend
• AWS Budgets for setting cost and usage alerts
• AWS Trusted Advisor for best-practice recommendations on cost, security, and performance
• AWS Compute Optimizer for instance right-sizing and efficiency recommendations

With these tools, businesses can optimize cloud spend and maximize cost efficiency after migrating to AWS.

Reliability and Performance

Both AWS and Azure are leading cloud providers with strong performance and reliability track records. However, if global reach is a priority, AWS currently operates in more regions and availability zones than Azure, which may help improve performance and reduce latency for globally distributed users.

Storage Solutions

Both AWS and Azure provide scalable cloud storage solutions, but AWS offers a broader range of specialized storage services that can help businesses optimize costs and performance.

Azure customers commonly use Blob Storage for object storage, with hot and cool tiers for cost optimization based on data access patterns. Azure also offers Disk Storage for block storage, Azure Files for shared storage, and Data Lake Storage for analytics workloads.

AWS, on the other hand, provides a more extensive selection of storage services across block, object, file, archival, and data warehousing needs.

Scalability and Availability

All major cloud providers offer scalability and high availability, but AWS is built for extreme elasticity. Amazon S3 scales automatically for virtually unlimited storage, while EC2 Auto Scaling Groups and Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) adjust compute resources in real-time to match demand.

Security and Compliance

For businesses with strict security and compliance requirements, AWS offers one of the most extensive compliance portfolios, with 143+ global certifications, including FedRAMP High, PCI DSS Level 1, HIPAA, and SOC 2. AWS simplifies compliance management with automated security and audit tools like AWS Security Hub, Audit Manager, and IAM Access Analyzer, helping organizations meet regulatory standards more efficiently.

Advanced Tools and Integrations

Businesses migrate to AWS for its vast ecosystem of services, integrations, and partner solutions that enable greater innovation and flexibility in the cloud. With over 200 fully featured services, deep open-source support, and seamless third-party integrations, AWS provides organizations with the tools to build, scale, and optimize workloads efficiently.

AWS also benefits from a large, active developer community, offering extensive resources, open-source contributions, and best practices to help IT teams accelerate cloud adoption and drive continuous innovation.

Azure to AWS Cloud Migration: Key Considerations

You’re looking across the fence at AWS, and the grass looks greener, but is it? Before you migrate to AWS, consider the following:

• Migration Strategy: Will you rehost, replatform, or refactor to modernize with AWS-native services?
• Cost Optimization: Have you evaluated how AWS pricing models compare to Azure, and planned for Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and Spot Instances?
• Workload Compatibility: Do your applications and databases need modifications to run efficiently in AWS, considering licensing, dependencies, and architecture?
• Security and Compliance: Will AWS meet your security needs? What security controls will you need to implement in your AWS environment to ensure it is secure and compliant? Consider industry regulations, such as HIPAA and PCI DSS, and what steps you will need to take to maintain compliance in a new cloud environment.
• Skills and Expertise: Is your team equipped with AWS expertise, or will you need training, certifications, or managed services for ongoing support?

7 Steps for a Successful Azure to AWS Cloud Migration

1. Make a Detailed Migration Plan
   When it comes to migration, the more detailed the plan, the better. Identify which workloads, applications, and data will move to AWS. Determine your business goals, whether they are focused on improving performance, increasing agility, or optimizing costs. Depending on your objectives, your migration strategy may include rehosting (lift-and-shift), replatforming (minor optimizations), or refactoring (modernization with AWS-native services).
   
   Create a timeline and a budget for this plan, and address all potential risks that you may encounter while migrating, including downtime, security issues, and integration challenges. Consider AWS Migration Hub for tracking and managing the migration process.
   
2. Set Up Your AWS Account and Landing Zone
   Start by creating your AWS account and configuring billing, access controls, and security settings. The next step is to establish a Landing Zone—a pre-configured, secure, and scalable environment for your AWS workloads. Use AWS Control Tower to automate Landing Zone setup.
   
   A Landing Zone ensures governance, security, and cost controls are in place before migrating workloads from Azure to AWS, reducing risk and complexity.
   
3. Transfer Data from Azure to AWS
   The data transfer method you choose will depend on the amount of data you are migrating and how sensitive it is. Some approaches you may use include AWS DataSync, AWS Snowball, and AWS Direct Connect. Select the right data migration method based on volume, speed, and sensitivity.
   • Choose AWS DataSync for automating data transfer from Azure Storage to Amazon S3.
   • Choose AWS Snowball for large-scale data transfers where internet bandwidth is a constraint.
   • Choose AWS Direct Connect for a dedicated, high-speed connection between Azure and AWS.
   • Validate data integrity post-transfer to ensure accuracy.
     
4. Migrate Applications (Rehost) to AWS
   For rehosting (lift-and-shift) migrations, move applications from Azure to Amazon EC2 instances with similar configurations. AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) can automate this process.
   
   If replatforming, consider migrating Azure SQL databases to Amazon RDS or Azure Functions to AWS Lambda to leverage AWS-native efficiencies.
   
5. Test and Validate AWS Infrastructure
   All migrated applications and infrastructure components should be rigorously tested to ensure that they are working, perform as expected, and are secure. Run AWS Inspector and AWS Security Hub for compliance and threat detection. Validate backup and failover procedures.
   
6. Decommission Your Azure Account
   Create a decommissioning plan for Azure resources. One good way to do this without worrying about decommissioning resources too soon is by employing a phased approach. Before you decommission key workloads on Azure, ensure that all critical data has migrated successfully to AWS. After a gradual decommissioning process, close your Azure account.
   
7. Update Documentation and Train Team Members
   Security policies, process documentation, best practices, and troubleshooting techniques will need to be updated internally to reflect new processes in the AWS environment. Document these changes and train team members on how to operate in AWS. You may also want to establish ongoing support practices to tie up any loose ends post-migration.

Best Practices for Managing Your AWS Environment

After you successfully migrate to AWS, how can you best manage your resources in this new environment?

Implement a Strong Governance Framework

A well-structured governance framework ensures security, compliance, and operational efficiency in AWS. By leveraging identity management, security automation, and continuous monitoring, businesses can proactively mitigate risks and maintain compliance with evolving regulations.

Use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and AWS Identity Center (SSO) to apply granular role-based permissions and enforce least-privilege access for users and services. Enable multifactor authentication (MFA) to further reduce unauthorized access risks.

Use AWS Security Hub, AWS Config, and GuardDuty to continuously assess security posture, detect vulnerabilities, and enforce compliance benchmarks like CIS, PCI DSS, and HIPAA.

Automate security audits with AWS Audit Manager and run scheduled vulnerability scans to detect misconfigurations before they become threats.

Cloud compliance is not a one-time effort; ensure your environment stays compliant by tracking evolving standards and updating security configurations accordingly.

Optimize Costs Continuously

The cost-effectiveness of a cloud environment depends largely on the controls you’ve set as a customer to automate resource usage best practices. Leverage AWS Cost Explorer, Savings Plans, and Compute Optimizer to track usage, right-size instances, and reduce waste.

When you analyze resource utilization data, you can find areas for cost reduction and optimization. Businesses can also auto-scale resources based on demand or automate rules based on resource limits.

Leverage Automatic and Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Critical for managing an AWS environment efficiently, leveraging automation and IaC can reduce manual work, enforce consistency, improve security, and enable rapid scaling. Instead of provisioning and configuring resources manually, you can use AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, or AWS Systems Manager to manage infrastructure efficiently and reduce manual effort.

Keep OS and Applications Updated

Preventative measures can counter a significant number of security issues. Regularly patch operating systems (OS) and applications to keep security vulnerabilities at bay. Automating the patching process can make updating more efficient, and doing so after hours can also minimize downtime.

Choose a Partner for Ongoing AWS Management

Finally, find a partner that can help you with ongoing management of your AWS environment. The right managed services partner can help you in any stage of the migration process, from planning to ongoing support, and can support your evolving cloud needs to free up internal teams and resources.

Trust the Experts in AWS Migration, Optimization, and Transformation

TierPoint can provide the cloud migration skills and solutions you need. In addition to proactive monitoring and maintenance, we can provide continuous optimization and ongoing AWS management. Learn more about our AWS consulting services.