Cloud Concepts
Migration and AWS CAF
ImportantSeparate organizational adoption guidance, migration assessment resources, progress tracking, and services that move applications, schemas, or data.
Aligned to the current CLF-C02 exam guide, verified August 15, 2026.
Why this matters
Migration questions become straightforward when you identify the stage and layer: organizational readiness, discovery, business case, tracking, server movement, schema conversion, or data replication.
Must Know
- AWS CAF connects cloud adoption to organizational capabilities and outcomes such as reduced business risk, increased revenue, improved operational efficiency, and improved ESG performance.
- Migration is a journey: assess and mobilize first, then migrate and modernize according to workload needs.
- Application Discovery Service inventories on-premises servers and dependencies; Migration Evaluator supports business-case assessment.
- DMS moves and can continuously replicate database data; schema-conversion tooling converts schemas; server migration and rehosting use the current MGN capability.
- Migration Hub tracks migrations across tools; Prescriptive Guidance provides documented strategies, patterns, and guides.
Compare and Distinguish
- AWS CAF vs Well-Architected Framework: organizational transformation capabilities versus workload design principles.
- Assessment vs execution: discovery and business-case resources inform the plan; the MGN capability, DMS, and schema-conversion tooling carry out different parts of workload moves.
- DMS vs SCT: replicate or move database data versus assess and convert database schemas and code objects.
- Migration Hub vs Prescriptive Guidance: centralized migration visibility versus reusable written guidance and patterns.
Scenario examples
- Scenario: Leaders need to align people, governance, security, operations, and business outcomes before a migration. Think: AWS CAF.
- Scenario: A migration project needs an inventory of on-premises servers and their dependencies. Think: Recognize Application Discovery Service as the guide-listed inventory service, then consult the current AWS note for new-project guidance.
- Scenario: A database must keep replicating while its schema is converted for a different engine. Think: AWS DMS moves data and AWS SCT converts schema.
- Scenario: Program leaders want one place to follow migrations performed by several tools. Think: AWS Migration Hub.
Exam traps
- AWS CAF does not move workloads, replicate data, or convert schemas.
- Migration Hub provides visibility; it is not the service that performs every migration.
- DMS does not replace SCT when a heterogeneous migration requires schema conversion.
- A migration service should be chosen from the workload, data, continuity, and transformation requirements rather than from a generic idea of moving to the cloud.
Key takeaways
- CAF prepares the organization; assessment resources reveal the estate; migration services move the workload.
- The current MGN capability moves servers; DMS moves data; schema-conversion tooling converts schemas.
- Migration Hub tracks progress; Prescriptive Guidance explains patterns.
How it works
- Application Discovery Service collects inventory and dependency information; assessment resources help build the migration case.
- During execution, server, database-data, and schema needs can require different services. Progress can be viewed centrally through Migration Hub.
- After migration, modernization and operational improvement continue; migration is not complete merely because data has been copied.
When to use it
- Use AWS CAF for organizational cloud transformation and capability gaps.
- Recognize Application Discovery Service for inventory and dependencies and Migration Evaluator for business-case assessment.
- Use the current MGN capability for supported server rehosting, DMS for database data, and schema-conversion tooling for heterogeneous schema conversion.
- Use Migration Hub for portfolio visibility and Prescriptive Guidance for patterns.
Security and governance implications
- Migration planning should address identity, data protection, compliance, and governance rather than treating them as post-migration additions.
- Replication and migration access should follow least privilege and protect data in transit and at rest.
Operational context
- Identify both the migration stage and the object being moved before choosing a service.
- If two services seem correct, check whether one handles data and the other schema, or whether one assesses while the other executes.
Current AWS note
- The live guide lists AWS Application Migration Service; current AWS documentation calls the server-rehosting capability AWS Transform MGN. Treat both names as the same exam-level rehost use case.
- Application Discovery Service remains on the live in-scope list, but it is closed to new customers; AWS recommends AWS Transform for new discovery projects.
- AWS Schema Conversion Tool remains in the live exam scope. Current DMS guidance recommends DMS Schema Conversion for new projects and retains AWS SCT as a legacy alternative.
- The official exam guide lists AWS Snow Family in scope and names AWS Snowball as a Task 1.3 migration example. Snow Family supports large-scale offline physical data transfer when network transfer is impractical; DMS remains the database-migration answer and AWS Transform MGN the server-rehosting answer.
More detail
- A migration can combine organizational change with several technical workstreams. AWS CAF addresses readiness and capabilities; service choices address the particular workload and data movement.
- Ongoing database replication can reduce the time between stopping the source and beginning to use the target. Detailed cutover design remains beyond this exam level.
- A good migration choice begins with what must move and whether it will stay largely unchanged, change database engines, or require broader modernization.
Ready for the quiz?
- When is AWS CAF a better answer than a migration service?
- Which resources help before a workload is moved?
- How do DMS and SCT complement each other?
- What is the difference between Migration Hub and Prescriptive Guidance?
Related objectives
- D1.3 — Understand the benefits of and strategies for migration to the AWS Cloud.