- A
Refactor
Why wrong: Refactoring involves rearchitecting applications to be cloud-native (e.g., microservices, containers, serverless). This requires significant application changes and takes much longer.
- B
Replatform
Why wrong: Replatforming involves moving to the cloud with some optimisations (e.g., moving from self-managed MySQL to Amazon RDS) without changing the core architecture.
- C
Rehost
Rehosting (lift and shift) moves applications to the cloud with no changes. It is the fastest strategy for migrating VMs and is chosen when speed and minimising disruption are the primary goals.
- D
Retire
Why wrong: Retiring means decommissioning applications that are no longer needed. The company wants to migrate and continue running the applications.
Question 502 of 1,024
Rehost Migration Strategy
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud concepts. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to migrate 50 virtual machines from their on-premises data centre to AWS as quickly as possible to reduce data centre costs. They plan to move the VMs without making any changes to the applications. Which cloud migration strategy does this represent?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Rehost
Option C (Rehost) is correct because the company is migrating 50 virtual machines to AWS without making any changes to the applications, which is the defining characteristic of a 'lift and shift' migration. This strategy involves moving the VMs as-is, typically using AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) or AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN), to quickly reduce on-premises data center costs without application refactoring.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Refactor
Why it's wrong here
Refactoring involves rearchitecting applications to be cloud-native (e.g., microservices, containers, serverless). This requires significant application changes and takes much longer.
- ✗
Replatform
Why it's wrong here
Replatforming involves moving to the cloud with some optimisations (e.g., moving from self-managed MySQL to Amazon RDS) without changing the core architecture.
- ✓
Rehost
Why this is correct
Rehosting (lift and shift) moves applications to the cloud with no changes. It is the fastest strategy for migrating VMs and is chosen when speed and minimising disruption are the primary goals.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Retire
Why it's wrong here
Retiring means decommissioning applications that are no longer needed. The company wants to migrate and continue running the applications.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Rehost (no changes) with Replatform (minimal changes), often selecting Replatform because they think moving to AWS inherently requires some modification, but the exam explicitly defines Rehost as migrating without any application changes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, a Rehost migration often uses AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN) to replicate on-premises VMs as continuous block-level snapshots to AWS, enabling cutover in minutes. A subtle behavior is that while the application code remains unchanged, the underlying hypervisor changes (e.g., from VMware vSphere to AWS Nitro), which can affect performance due to differences in CPU features or I/O drivers. In a real-world scenario, this strategy is ideal for quick cost savings but may miss optimization opportunities like using AWS Graviton instances for better price-performance.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Concepts — This question tests Cloud Concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Rehost — Option C (Rehost) is correct because the company is migrating 50 virtual machines to AWS without making any changes to the applications, which is the defining characteristic of a 'lift and shift' migration. This strategy involves moving the VMs as-is, typically using AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) or AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN), to quickly reduce on-premises data center costs without application refactoring.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.
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