Azure migration workflow — discover, assess, and migrate workloads

Azure Migration MicroHack

A 1-day team challenge — discover, assess, and plan Azure migrations using Azure Migrate, the Cloud Adoption Framework, and Azure Arc.

Get Started View Challenges

What You’ll Do

Discover

Deploy the Azure Migrate appliance and discover on-premises VMs and SQL databases running in ArcBox.

Assess

Evaluate migration readiness, analyse dependencies, and generate Azure suitability assessments.

Design

Plan migration waves, map dependencies, and align your strategy to the Cloud Adoption Framework.

Adapt

Respond to a mid-event curveball — new compliance requirements that change your plan.

Schedule Overview

gantt
  title MicroHack Day (10:00 – 17:00)
  dateFormat HH:mm
  axisFormat %H:%M
  section Morning
      Welcome & Azure 101       :active, 10:00, 30m
      C1 Plan & Design          :10:30, 45m
      C2 Deploy Appliance       :11:15, 75m
      Lunch                     :crit, 12:30, 45m
  section Afternoon
      C3 Assessment             :13:15, 45m
      C4 Execute                :14:00, 30m
      Break                     :crit, 14:30, 15m
      C5 Curveball              :14:45, 30m
      C6 Optimize               :15:15, 45m
  section Presentations
      C7 Presentations          :16:00, 45m
      Wrap-up                   :16:45, 15m

Text alternative: Schedule overview

Morning: Welcome & Azure 101 (10:00–10:30) → C1 Plan & Design (10:30–11:15) → C2 Deploy Appliance (11:15–12:30) → Lunch (12:30–13:15)

Afternoon: C3 Assessment (13:15–14:00) → C4 Execute (14:00–14:30) → Break (14:30–14:45) → C5 Curveball (14:45–15:15) → C6 Optimize (15:15–16:00)

Presentations: C7 Presentations (16:00–16:45) → Wrap-up (16:45–17:00)

Key Facts

Aspect	Details
Duration	1 day (7 hours: 10:00–17:00)
Challenges	7 challenges + pre-work across the full migration lifecycle
Scoring	100 base points + up to 15 bonus points
Teams	4 members per team (self-organising)
Format	Hands-on labs + whiteboard design sessions
Lab Environment	Azure Jumpstart ArcBox for IT Pros

The Scenario: Contoso Bakery

A Dublin-based food & beverage company (65 employees, €10M revenue) needs to migrate its ageing on-premises infrastructure to Azure. Their IT team of 3 is stretched thin, hardware refresh is overdue, and they need to hit GDPR compliance along the way.

Your team will assess Contoso’s 5-server estate running in ArcBox, design a migration strategy, and present a complete plan — all within a single day.

Phase	Points	Focus
Challenges 1–2	50	Plan & Prepare (CAF)
Challenges 3–5	45	Execute & Adapt (CAF)
Challenge 6	—	Optimise (CAF)
Challenge 7	5	Present & Synthesise

Quick Entry Points

Check if I'm ready Verify Azure access and prerequisites.

Read the scenario Understand the Contoso Bakery story.

Start the challenges Begin with Challenge 1: Plan.

Fix something broken Common issues and solutions.

MicroHack Sections

Getting Started — Set up your environment, check prerequisites, and learn the scenario
Challenges — 7 challenges — from planning through to final presentations
Guides — Hints & tips and a printable quick-reference card
Reference — Glossary, troubleshooting, and governance scripts
About — Agenda, event details, and feedback