Azure Migration Guide
Welcome to the Azure Migration Guide
This documentation is your comprehensive resource for planning and executing cloud migrations to Azure. It is designed for both technical and business audiences, focusing on Rehost and Refactor strategies, and is aligned with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework (WAF).
Guide Objectives
- Help you analyze business needs and select the right migration strategy
- Provide step-by-step guidance for rehosting and refactoring workloads
- Equip you to design secure, scalable, and cost-effective Azure environments
- Enable you to leverage Azure tools and best practices for a successful migration
Guide Structure
This guide is divided into multiple sections, each with its own overview and deep-dive content:
Getting Started
Overview, prerequisites, and strategy selection for your migration project.
Rehost
“Lift-and-shift” migration approach for moving workloads to Azure with minimal changes.
Refactor
Modernizing applications to take advantage of cloud-native features and services.
Frameworks
Align your migration with CAF and WAF, and apply proven design principles.
Tools
Discover and use Azure migration and assessment tools.
Quick Guides
Business-focused summaries and checklists for each migration topic.
Case Studies
Explore real-world migration stories and lessons learned.
FAQ
Find answers to common migration questions.
About the Migration Journey
These sections provide a structured approach:
- Understand the Business Context: Review goals and success metrics
- Define Requirements: Identify technical and business needs
- Design Solutions: Create architectures and select Azure services
- Implement & Optimize: Apply best practices and tools
- Review & Iterate: Learn from outcomes and refine your approach
Additional Resources
- Glossary
- Troubleshooting
- References
- Contributing Guide
- Azure VM Baseline Landing Zone
- Migration Execution Guide (MEG)
This guide is intended for learning and practical migration planning. Use the navigation menu or the links above to explore each topic in detail.
⚠️ AI Disclosure & Disclaimer ⚠️
This repository contains content that has been collaboratively crafted by humans and AI, specifically GitHub Copilot. Think of it as pair programming, but one of the programmers never needs coffee breaks and has read the entire internet (twice).
Technical Details:
- AI Assistant: GitHub Copilot (Claude Sonnet 4 model)
- Human Oversight: 100% (because even AI needs a code review)
- AI Contribution: Documentation generation, content structuring, and best practices compilation
- Quality Assurance: All AI-generated content has been reviewed, validated, and approved by human experts
What This Means:
- The migration strategies and Azure best practices are sourced from official Microsoft documentation and industry standards
- Code examples and PowerShell scripts have been tested and validated
- Mermaid diagrams were generated with AI assistance but follow Azure architectural patterns
- The AI helped us write faster, not think less 🧠
Disclaimer: While our AI colleague is remarkably well-informed about Azure (having consumed more documentation than humanly possible), always validate configurations in your specific environment. The AI may occasionally suggest creating a VM with “unlimited cores” or recommend migrating your entire datacenter over the weekend. Use professional judgment accordingly.
Bottom Line: This guide represents a fusion of human expertise and AI efficiency, designed to accelerate your Azure migration journey while maintaining accuracy and reliability.
Dad Joke: Why did the server migrate to Azure? It heard the sky was the limit!