Application Migration Service (MGN)
Use AWS MGN to continuously replicate on-premises servers to AWS and perform non-disruptive test cutover before the final migration window.
What Is AWS MGN?
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is the primary AWS service for rehosting (lifting and shifting) on-premises servers — physical or virtual — to Amazon EC2. MGN continuously replicates source servers to a staging area in AWS, so when you are ready to migrate, the cutover window is very short (minutes rather than hours). MGN supports Windows and Linux servers from any hypervisor or bare-metal environment.
MGN Architecture: Continuous Replication
MGN installs a lightweight AWS Replication Agent on each source server. The agent establishes an encrypted connection over TCP port 1500 and continuously replicates block-level disk changes to a staging area in your target AWS Region. The staging area consists of low-cost Replication Servers (automatically launched by MGN) and EBS volumes that mirror the source disks in near-real time. No downtime occurs during replication.
# Install the MGN Replication Agent on a Linux source server
wget -O ./aws-replication-installer-init.py \
'https://aws-application-migration-service-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init.py'
python3 ./aws-replication-installer-init.py \
--region us-east-1 \
--aws-access-key-id <ACCESS_KEY> \
--aws-secret-access-key <SECRET_KEY>All lessons in this course
- The 7 Rs of Migration Strategy
- AWS Migration Hub and Application Discovery Service
- Application Migration Service (MGN)
- Database Migration Service (DMS) and Schema Conversion Tool