Migration Strategy (7Rs Framework)
Explore how to plan and execute enterprise migrations to AWS using the 7Rs framework. Learn to classify workloads, sequence migration waves, and build cost-effective business cases, balancing technical and business constraints for professional architects.
Enterprise migration at the professional architect level is not about selecting a single tool or running a one-time cutover. It is a structured planning discipline that spans portfolio discovery, workload classification, dependency-aware sequencing, and financial validation. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional exam tests whether you can navigate these decisions under realistic constraints by choosing a migration strategy that balances timeline pressure, compliance boundaries, application coupling, and business criticality, rather than defaulting to the most technically ambitious option. This lesson builds the decision-making framework you need to assess an entire application estate, assign the correct migration path to each workload, sequence those workloads into executable waves, and justify the program financially using total cost of ownership analysis.
Enterprise migration as a planning discipline
Organizations running hundreds or thousands of applications cannot migrate everything simultaneously, nor can they apply a single strategy across the portfolio. Migration planning requires a
AWS frames this classification around the 7Rs framework, which provides a standardized vocabulary for migration decisions. Each R represents a distinct strategy with different risk profiles, effort levels, and outcomes. The classification output feeds directly into two downstream activities: wave planning, which determines the order in which applications move, and TCO-based business-case development, which justifies the investment to executive stakeholders.
Attention: Exam scenarios frequently present constraints such as a 12-month deadline, regulatory data residency requirements, or tightly coupled legacy systems. The correct answer is almost never “refactor everything.” Match the R to the constraint, not to architectural ambition.
The exam rewards candidates who recognize that migration planning is iterative. Early assessments may classify a workload as rehost, but post-migration analysis might reveal modernization opportunities that justify a later refactor. This phased thinking, where you stabilize first and optimize second, is the AWS-recommended pattern for complex enterprise estates. Understanding how classification connects to sequencing and financial justification forms the backbone of every migration question on the exam.
The 7Rs migration framework
The 7Rs provide seven distinct strategies for handling each application in a migration portfolio. Selecting the correct R requires evaluating business criticality, technical debt, compliance needs, latency sensitivity, dependency coupling, and timeline constraints simultaneously.
Rehost, replatform, and refactor
These three strategies represent a spectrum from minimal change to full redesign.