SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a monolithic application to AWS. They want to minimize refactoring effort while gaining some benefits of the cloud. Which migration strategy is most appropriate?
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 (lift-and-shift)
Rehost (lift-and-shift) involves moving the application as-is to AWS with minimal changes, aligning with the goal of minimizing refactoring effort. Option A is wrong because Refactor/Re-architect requires significant code changes. Option B is wrong because Repurchase involves switching to a different product, often a SaaS solution. Option D is wrong because Replatform (lift-tinker-and-shift) involves some modifications to the application to take advantage of cloud capabilities, which requires more effort than pure rehost.
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 / Re-architect
Why it's wrong here
Refactoring rewrites application code and architecture, directly contradicting the requirement to minimise refactoring effort. It is tempting because it unlocks the fullest cloud benefits, but that scenario accepts substantial redevelopment, whereas the stem prioritises low-effort migration with modest gains.
- ✗
Repurchase
Why it's wrong here
Repurchase means abandoning the application for a different commercial product, which discards the existing monolith rather than migrating it with minimal change. It is tempting because it can reduce long-term operational burden, but that suits organisations willing to replace functionality, not those preserving the current codebase.
- ✓
Rehost (lift-and-shift)
Why this is correct
Rehosting moves the application to AWS without altering its architecture, satisfying the minimal-refactoring constraint. The monolith runs on EC2 instances, gaining cloud benefits such as elasticity and pay-as-you-go pricing while avoiding code changes. This differs from replatforming, which requires modifying components, and refactoring, which demands architectural redesign.
- ✗
Replatform (lift-tinker-and-shift)
Why it's wrong here
Replatform retains the application's core code while adjusting components such as managed databases or containers, matching minimal refactoring with cloud benefits. It is tempting because it sounds like the answer, but the question asks which strategy is appropriate, and this option is the correct one.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 984 original SAP-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which TWO AWS services can be used to migrate on-premises applications to AWS without modifying the application code?
easy- A.AWS DataSync
- ✓ B.AWS VM Import/Export
- ✓ C.AWS Application Migration Service (MGN)
- D.AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
- E.AWS App2Container
Why B: AWS VM Import/Export allows importing VM images as EC2 instances, preserving the OS and applications. AWS MGN automates lift-and-shift replication. AWS DMS requires some changes for database migration. AWS DataSync is for data transfer. AWS App2Container requires containerization.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-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 SAP-C02 exam.