Cloud Migration Strategies: The 7 Rs Framework

Calendar February 22, 2026
Infrastructure
Intermediate, Advanced
Migration-Planning, Architecture-Assessment, Cutover-Execution, Rollback-Design, Dependency-Analysis
Cloud-Migration, 7rs, Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Lift-and-Shift, Cutover, Rollback, Dependency-Mapping, Assessment
Aws-Migration-Hub, Azure-Migrate, Gcloud, Terraform, Ansible, Cloudendure

Cloud Migration Strategies#

A company does not “migrate to the cloud” – it migrates dozens or hundreds of applications, each with different characteristics, dependencies, and risk profiles. The 7 Rs framework provides vocabulary for per-workload decisions, but selecting the right R requires understanding the application, its dependencies, and the organization’s tolerance for change.

The 7 Rs#

Rehost (Lift and Shift)#

Move the application to cloud infrastructure with minimal changes. A VM on-premises becomes an EC2 instance. OS, application code, and configuration remain the same.