Which AWS Service Migrates EC2 Instances Between Regions?

CLF-C02 By islever Editorial Last updated

Understand the benefits of and strategies for migration to the AWS Cloud.

Short answer

A AWS Application Migration Service replicates EC2 server volumes and launches them as instances in the target Region.

Question

Which AWS service can migrate Amazon EC2 instances from one AWS Region to another?
  1. AWS Application Migration Service Correct Answer
  2. AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
  3. AWS DataSync
  4. AWS Migration Hub

Key Takeaways

The exam tests whether you can separate the server-replication tool (MGN) from data-transfer tools (DataSync), database tools (DMS) and tracking dashboards (Migration Hub), with the trap being that all four sound like 'migration' services.

AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is the service that replicates servers, including Amazon EC2 instances, and launches them in a different AWS Region. This page confirms why option A is the answer and why DMS, DataSync and Migration Hub cannot perform block-level server migration.

Common mistake: Learners often pick AWS Migration Hub because its name implies it performs migrations, when it actually only aggregates and tracks migration status across tools and Regions.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is a block-level server replication service: it installs a replication agent on the source server, continuously replicates its volumes, and then launches test or cutover instances in a chosen target AWS Region. Because replication is continuous and region-agnostic, the same mechanism used for on-premises-to-AWS migration also works for moving running Amazon EC2 instances from one Region to another. This matches the question exactly, and it is also why the answer key and the entire vote distribution (A: 100) agree. As ShaiTay noted, the service is "designed to migrate Amazon EC2 instances (and their associated workloads) from one AWS Region to another."

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) moves relational and non-relational database schemas and data between engines and platforms; it has no ability to replicate a full server's operating system and boot volumes. AWS DataSync is a data-movement service for files and objects between on-premises storage, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS and Amazon FSx — it transfers data, not running instances. AWS Migration Hub is a central dashboard that tracks the progress of application migrations across tools and Regions, but it does not itself perform any replication or cutover. None of these three can take an EC2 instance and re-create it as a running instance in another Region.

Community Comment Notes

samosa_123 captured the mechanism precisely: the service "replicates entire server instances and converts them to run on AWS infrastructure", including across Regions, which is the block-level behavior that rules out DMS and DataSync. ShaiTay's answer is right, though the parenthetical equating AWS Application Migration Service with AWS Server Migration Service is inaccurate — AWS SMS was a separate, older server-migration service, while MGN is built on CloudEndure technology. d00b229 simply reinforced the consensus with "A. AWS Application Migration Service." The unanimous 100-vote split for A reflects how clearly the scenario maps to a single service.

Official Reference

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/mgn/latest/ug/what-is-mgn.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Anchor each 'migration' service to the asset it moves: servers (MGN), databases (DMS), file/object data (DataSync), and status tracking (Migration Hub). When the asset is a running EC2 instance including its OS and volumes, the answer is the server-replication service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is AWS DataSync wrong for migrating an EC2 instance to another Region?

DataSync copies files and objects between storage systems such as NFS, SMB, Amazon S3, EFS and FSx. It cannot replicate an instance's operating system and boot volumes or launch a running EC2 instance in the target Region.

Does AWS Migration Hub actually perform the Region-to-Region migration?

No. Migration Hub is a tracking and orchestration dashboard that aggregates migration status across tools and Regions; the actual replication and cutover are done by services such as AWS Application Migration Service.

More CLF-C02 FAQ →

Community Votes

A
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 3 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 3

  1. samosa_123 👍 1 Answered A
    A. AWS Application Migration Service: This service can be used to migrate Amazon EC2 instances between AWS Regions. It replicates entire server instances and converts them to run on AWS infrastructure, including across different regions.
  2. ShaiTay 👍 1 Answered A
    A. AWS Application Migration Service (formerly known as AWS Server Migration Service or AWS SMS) is designed to migrate Amazon EC2 instances (and their associated workloads) from one AWS Region to another.
  3. d00b229 👍 1
    A. AWS Application Migration Service

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