Business Scenarios and Migration
What to know
Migration questions combine assessment, transfer, and cutover. Understand the migration lifecycle: inventory and dependency mapping, TCO/business-case analysis, choosing a migration pattern (rehost, replatform, refactor, retire, retain), moving data, validating, then cutting over with a rollback plan. Know the transfer tools conceptually: offline/shipping appliances for very large datasets with limited bandwidth, online transfer services for incremental sync, and database migration services that handle schema conversion and continuous replication for minimal downtime. Hybrid scenarios use Express Connect or VPN plus CEN to bridge on-premises and cloud VPCs.
Traps to watch
Questions test whether you match the pattern to the goal. Lift-and-shift (rehost) is fastest but least optimized; refactoring is most effort but best long-term. For huge datasets over slow links, online transfer may take months-offline shipping wins. For minimal-downtime database moves, full-then-incremental replication beats a one-shot dump. Watch for answers that skip validation or rollback, or that migrate everything at once instead of prioritizing workloads. Also distinguish cost drivers: egress/data transfer charges and idle resources often dominate early cloud bills.
Rule of thumb
Sequence: assess → prioritize → choose pattern → migrate in waves → validate → cut over with rollback → optimize. Migrate low-risk, high-value workloads first to build confidence.
Worked example
"A firm has 200 TB on-premises and a slow link; it needs a database move with under an hour of downtime." Answer: ship the bulk data with an offline transfer appliance, use a database migration service with full plus incremental replication for the database, validate, then cut over during a maintenance window with rollback ready.