AWS Migration Strategies and the Cloud Adoption Framework for CLF-C02: The 7 Rs, CAF Perspectives and Migration Tools

Task statement 1.3 of CLF-C02, "Understand the benefits of and strategies for migration to the AWS Cloud," packs three ideas into two skill lines: the components of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework, choosing an appropriate migration strategy, and the resources that support a migration. It sits in Cloud Concepts, 24% of scored content. The questions are about recognizing the right approach for a business situation, not about running a migration.

What task statement 1.3 asks, and what changed since 2023

The Domain 1 page of exam guide version 1.3 gives two examples:

• CAF components: "reduced business risk; improved environmental, social, and governance [ESG] performance; increased revenue; increased operational efficiency"
• Migration strategies: "for example, database replication"

The original 2023 version of the guide gave a second migration example, "use of AWS Snowball." The current guide dropped it, and AWS Snow Family appears on neither the current in-scope nor out-of-scope list. If your course spends a lesson on Snowball devices, give it low priority.

The 7 Rs of migration, as AWS defines them

AWS Prescriptive Guidance says there are "seven migration strategies for moving applications to the cloud, known as the 7 Rs." The definitions are AWS's; the one-line test is Passy's study aid:

AWS adds a planning note that helps with "which is best for a large migration" questions: common strategies for large migrations are rehost, replatform, relocate and retire, and refactor "is not recommended for large migrations" because it is the most complex. AWS suggests migrating first and modernizing afterward.

Rehost vs replatform vs refactor: the hardest three to separate

All three move the application to AWS. The difference is how much changes on the way:

• Rehost changes nothing in the application. The servers move as they are.
• Replatform keeps the application's core design but swaps a component for a cloud option. AWS's example is moving a Microsoft SQL Server database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server.
• Refactor changes the architecture itself to use cloud-native features.

The task statement's example, database replication, fits the move itself. AWS Database Migration Service can run a one-time migration or replicate ongoing changes, which keeps a source database in sync while you move to the target.

These strategy names are flashcard material, and you can review the 7 Rs with the flashcards planned for CLF-C02 prep once full prep launches.

The six AWS CAF perspectives

The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework overview says AWS CAF "groups its capabilities in six perspectives." AWS describes each one and its typical stakeholders:

A question about skills, training, culture or resistance to change points to People. A question about risk, benefits tracking or managing the program points to Governance. Platform is about building the technical foundation, and Operations is about running services day to day.

CAF business outcomes, transformation domains and phases

The same whitepaper describes a value chain. Four transformation domains, technology, process, organization and product, lead to the business outcomes the exam guide quotes: reduced business risk, improved ESG performance, increased revenue and increased operational efficiency. AWS's CAF page explains each outcome, for example reducing risk "through improved reliability, increased performance, and enhanced security."

AWS CAF also recommends four iterative phases:

1. Envision: identify and prioritize transformation opportunities tied to business outcomes
2. Align: find capability gaps across the six perspectives and surface stakeholder concerns
3. Launch: deliver pilot initiatives in production and show incremental value
4. Scale: expand pilots to the desired scale and make sure the benefits are realized and sustained

Migration services on the CLF-C02 list

The in-scope list names six services under Migration and Transfer. What each does, from AWS's documentation as read on October 28, 2026:

Three documentation changes are worth knowing, without changing what you study. AWS's user guide for Application Migration Service is now titled "AWS Transform MGN." AWS Migration Hub has been closed to new customers since November 7, 2025, and AWS Application Discovery Service is also closed to new customers; both pages point to AWS Transform instead. Exam guide version 1.3 still lists the original names. AWS's Certification FAQ says that when a service changes, AWS replaces the affected exam questions, and that if a question seems out of date you should "choose the best available answer."

Two related names are on the out-of-scope list: AWS Transfer Family and AWS Migration Hub Refactor Spaces.

Three migration and CAF practice examples, written by Passy

These are original examples, not AWS exam items.

Example 1. A company must move 300 on-premises virtual machines to AWS within four months, before its data center lease ends. It wants to move them without changing the applications and modernize later. Which migration strategy fits?

• A. Refactor
• B. Rehost
• C. Repurchase
• D. Retire

Keyed answer: B. Rehost moves applications without changes, and AWS lists it among the common strategies for large migrations while advising against refactoring during one. Repurchase replaces the software and retire shuts it down.

Example 2. A company's cloud program is stalling because staff lack cloud skills and teams resist new ways of working. Which AWS CAF perspective addresses this most directly?

• A. Governance
• B. Platform
• C. People
• D. Operations

Keyed answer: C. AWS describes the People perspective as focused on culture, organizational structure, leadership and workforce. Governance deals with program risk and benefits, which is the near miss.

Example 3. A company is moving an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL and wants the source to stay in use until cutover. Which two services fit? (Select two.)

• A. AWS Schema Conversion Tool
• B. AWS Database Migration Service
• C. AWS Application Discovery Service
• D. Amazon Inspector
• E. AWS Migration Hub

Keyed answers: A and B. AWS SCT converts the schema to the new engine, and AWS DMS moves the data, with ongoing replication until cutover. Discovery Service and Migration Hub help plan and track, but they don't convert or move the database.

If Cloud Concepts trails your other domains in practice, you can let the planned Weak Spot drill target Cloud Concepts when it is your lowest-accuracy domain once full prep opens.

Migration and CAF in your CLF-C02 study plan

Learn the 7 Rs table first, then the six perspectives with one stakeholder each, then the six migration services. Licensing comes up in the next task statement, cloud economics, which asks about BYOL compared with included licenses; the CLF-C02 pricing models guide explains why Dedicated Hosts matter for server-bound licenses. The CLF-C02 Well-Architected pillars guide covers the other framework in Domain 1.

Passy's free CLF-C02 practice questions include Cloud Concepts scenarios. For more migration scenarios, you can work through the Cloud Concepts set planned for full CLF-C02 prep when it launches.