SAP-C02 - Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization (20% of the exam) - Section 4.1

Select workloads for migration by completing a portfolio assessment with AWS Migration Hub, applying the seven common migration strategies and evaluating total cost of ownership.

Assess a migration portfolio using AWS Migration Hub to track progress and apply the seven common migration strategies - retire, retain, rehost, relocate, repurchase, replatform, and refactor - to each workload. Weigh total cost of ownership against modernisation benefit to prioritise which workloads to move first.

AWS Migration Hub7Rs migration strategiesTotal cost of ownershipPortfolio assessment

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleAccelerate Workload Migration and Modernizationmedium

A manufacturer running an AWS Migration Hub portfolio assessment must label two workloads with one of the seven common migration strategies before wave planning begins. The first is a self-managed Microsoft SQL Server estate the team is willing to retire in favour of a managed engine, accepting a database engine swap but no application rewrite, to cut patching and backup overhead. The second is a VMware-based line-of-business application the business will not let the team change at all and which must move within an eight-week lease deadline that rules out re-imaging each host. Which TWO strategy classifications correctly pair with these two workloads? Select TWO.

AThe SQL Server estate is a refactor, because re-architecting it into a serverless event-driven design on AWS is the only way to remove the patching and backup burden that the team has identified as the problem.
BThe SQL Server estate is a replatform, because moving it onto Amazon RDS for SQL Server keeps the application unchanged while offloading patching, backups and failover to the managed service through a targeted change. Correct
CThe SQL Server estate is a rehost, because lifting the database servers to Amazon EC2 unchanged is the lowest-effort move and still lets the team stop managing on-premises hardware after the migration.
DThe VMware application is a relocate, because moving the virtual machines to VMware Cloud on AWS lifts them as-is with no operating system or application change and the fastest path to meet the eight-week deadline. Correct
EThe VMware application is a retire, because workloads bound by a hard lease deadline are decommissioned to avoid migration effort and the business case treats them as end-of-life candidates by default.

Map a managed-engine database move to replatform and an unchanged VMware lift to relocate when assigning 7Rs strategies during portfolio assessment. The 7Rs separate effort levels precisely: relocate moves VMware virtual machines to VMware Cloud on AWS with no guest or application change, while replatform makes a targeted change such as moving a database onto a managed RDS engine to cut operational overhead without rewriting the application. Each workload's stated constraints point to exactly one of these.

Why A is wrong: Refactor means re-architecting the application and is far heavier than needed, since a managed RDS engine already removes patching and backup overhead without rewriting the application.

Why B is correct: Replatform (the lift-and-tinker strategy) is exactly an engine move to a managed RDS service without rewriting the application, which matches the willingness to swap the database while reducing operational overhead.

Why C is wrong: Rehost lifts servers to EC2 with no engine change, so it leaves the team still patching and backing up SQL Server itself, which contradicts the stated goal of offloading that overhead to a managed engine.

Why D is correct: Relocate moves VMware workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS without changing the guest operating system or application, which fits the no-change mandate and the short deadline that rules out re-imaging hosts.

Why E is wrong: Retire applies only to applications no longer needed, but this line-of-business application is still required, so a deadline alone never justifies decommissioning a workload the business depends on.

See more SAP-C02 practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the SAP-C02 bank for this domain.

Use AWS Application Migration Service to replicate the source servers into AWS and read the dependency map it produces during replication, so the inventory and wave grouping come directly from the migration tooling itself.
Why it is wrong: Application Migration Service performs the actual rehost replication and cutover, not portfolio discovery, so it does not build the dependency-aware inventory the team needs before deciding which servers belong in which wave.
The packaged application is a refactor, because re-architecting it into cloud-native services is the only durable way to retire the self-hosted instance and avoid paying a third-party subscription over time.
Why it is wrong: Refactor means re-architecting and is far more effort than needed, and it ignores that a vendor software-as-a-service equivalent already exists, which makes repurchase the cheaper and faster fit under budget pressure.
Rehost the unused expenses tool onto EC2 so it remains available in case anyone needs it again later, and refactor the compliance application into a modern serverless design so that it becomes cloud-ready well before the regulatory window finally closes.
Why it is wrong: Rehosting an application confirmed to have no users spends effort and run cost for no value, and refactoring the compliance application breaks the explicit freeze that forbids any change to it for two reporting cycles, so both choices waste effort or violate a constraint.

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