How Application Migration Service's Replication-to-Cutover Flow Works

~8 min read

The three phases of an MGN migration — replicate, test, cutover — and why splitting them apart minimizes risk and downtime.

How Application Migration Service's Replication-to-Cutover Flow Works is a Pro topic

Sign in, then upgrade to Pro or Power to unlock this topic and the full AWS curriculum.

Key points

  • Phase 1 (replicate): continuous, low-impact, ongoing background replication of the source server
  • Phase 2 (test): non-disruptive test instances launched from current replicated state, validated independently
  • Phase 3 (cutover): short final delta sync plus traffic redirect — the only real downtime window
  • Separating these phases converts a risky one-shot migration into a validated, low-downtime process