AWS Application Migration Service is now AWS Transform MGN
MGN gains an AI agent that automates discovery, wave planning, and network setup—cutting manual effort for large-scale cloud migrations.
View original announcement →Visual Summary
graph TD
A{{AWS Transform MGN}}:::announced
B((Source Servers)):::external
C([Block-Level Replication]):::feature
D(Amazon EC2):::compute
E([Agentic Workflow]):::feature
F([Self-Directed Console]):::feature
G([Wave Planning]):::feature
H(AWS Transform):::compute
I([Automated Cutover]):::feature
B ==>|"agents installed"| A
A -->|"continuous sync"| C
C -->|"converts to"| D
H -->|"orchestrates"| E
E -->|"automates"| A
A -.->|"manual control"| F
E -->|"plans"| G
A -->|"executes"| I
I -->|"launches"| D
classDef announced fill:#ff9900,stroke:#ec7211,color:#fff,font-weight:bold
classDef compute fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1565c0,color:#1565c0
classDef storage fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#2e7d32,color:#2e7d32
classDef feature fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#e65100,color:#e65100
classDef external fill:#f5f5f5,stroke:#616161,color:#616161
What's New
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) has been rebranded as AWS Transform MGN, repositioning it as the core replication engine within the broader AWS Transform agentic migration platform. The rename reflects MGN's expanded role powering an AI-driven end-to-end migration workflow that can autonomously handle discovery, wave planning, landing zone setup, network creation, and rehosting or containerization. All existing functionality, compliance certifications, and regional availability are fully preserved under the new name.
How It Works
- Continuous block-level replication: AWS Transform MGN installs lightweight replication agents on source servers (physical, virtual, or cloud-based) and continuously replicates block-level data into a staging area in the target AWS account, minimizing cutover windows.
- Automated machine conversion: At cutover time, the service automatically converts source server configurations into native Amazon EC2 instances without requiring modifications to the source environment.
- Self-directed console path: Users can manage every replication and cutover configuration step manually through the AWS Transform MGN console, giving granular control over launch templates, IAM permissions, replication settings, and post-launch actions.
- Agentic rehost path via AWS Transform: An AI agent orchestrates the full migration lifecycle—initializing MGN, configuring IAM, generating launch templates, installing replication agents, building inventory, and enriching network mappings—without manual intervention.
- Interchangeable paths: Both the self-directed and agentic paths share the same underlying replication and cutover engine, allowing teams to switch between them at any point without losing replication progress.
- Post-migration modernization: Once workloads are running on EC2, teams can leverage AWS services to replatform or refactor applications, making lift-and-shift a gateway to deeper modernization.
Why It's Important
- Unified migration platform: The rebrand signals AWS's intent to consolidate migration tooling under the AWS Transform umbrella, giving customers a single, coherent platform that spans discovery through cutover rather than a collection of disparate tools.
- Reduced migration complexity: The agentic workflow eliminates the manual configuration steps that historically introduced delays and errors, particularly in large-scale migrations spanning multiple accounts or waves.
- Accelerated time-to-cloud: By automating discovery, wave planning, and network setup, the agentic path can significantly compress migration timelines compared to fully manual approaches.
- Compliance confidence retained: All existing certifications (FedRAMP High, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO, SOC 1/2/3) carry forward, meaning regulated-industry customers face no re-evaluation burden due to the rename.
- Flexibility for diverse teams: Offering both a hands-on console and a fully automated agent path means the service accommodates both experienced migration engineers who want control and teams that prefer automation-first approaches.
How It's Different
- Agentic automation layer: Unlike the original MGN, AWS Transform MGN is now explicitly integrated with an AI agent that can autonomously execute multi-step migration workflows, going well beyond the replication-and-cutover scope of the original service.
- End-to-end scope: The original MGN focused primarily on replication and cutover; AWS Transform MGN operates within a broader workflow that also encompasses discovery, wave planning, landing zone provisioning, and network migration.
- Containerization option: The agentic path adds containerization as an output option alongside traditional EC2 rehosting, enabling modernization paths that were not part of the original MGN scope.
- Multi-account orchestration: The agentic workflow is specifically designed to handle migrations spanning multiple AWS accounts with precise configuration management, addressing a complexity gap in the self-directed model.
- Branding alignment: The rename aligns MGN with the AWS Transform product family, distinguishing it from standalone migration tools and signaling deeper integration with AWS's broader AI-driven transformation strategy.
When to Prefer It
- Large-scale enterprise migrations: Choose the agentic AWS Transform workflow when migrating hundreds or thousands of servers across multiple accounts, where manual wave planning and configuration would be error-prone and time-consuming.
- Regulated workloads: Use AWS Transform MGN when compliance with FedRAMP High, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or similar frameworks is required, as all certifications are maintained and available in GovCloud regions.
- Teams new to AWS migrations: The agentic path is ideal for teams without deep AWS migration expertise, since the agent handles IAM setup, launch templates, and network mappings automatically.
- Granular control scenarios: Use the self-directed MGN console path when your team requires step-by-step oversight of each configuration decision, such as in highly customized or sensitive environments.
- Hybrid source environments: Prefer AWS Transform MGN when migrating a mix of physical servers, VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and cloud-based workloads, as it supports all these source types under a single tool.
- Modernization-oriented migrations: Use the agentic path when you want to evaluate containerization alongside traditional rehosting, enabling a lift-and-shift-to-modernize strategy in a single workflow.
- Cross-region or cross-account EC2 migrations: Use AWS Transform MGN to move existing EC2 workloads between AWS Regions, Availability Zones, or accounts without needing third-party tooling.
Availability
- GA status: Generally available; this is a rebrand of the existing AWS Application Migration Service, which has been GA for several years—no new feature preview limitations apply.
- Commercial regions: Available in all AWS commercial regions, including US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Canada, South America, Mexico, Israel, and New Zealand regions (35+ regions total).
- GovCloud support: Available in both AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) regions, supporting federal and regulated workloads.
- Compliance certifications: FedRAMP High, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO, and SOC 1, 2, and 3 certifications are all retained under the new name.
- Pricing model: AWS Transform MGN itself has no additional charge for the replication service; customers pay for the underlying AWS resources consumed (EC2 staging instances, EBS storage, data transfer) during replication and after cutover.
- Agentic workflow dependency: The agentic rehost path requires use of AWS Transform, which may have separate pricing or availability considerations beyond the core MGN service.
- Console access: Available at https://console.aws.amazon.com/mgn/home with no change to existing API endpoints or SDK integrations.
