Cloud Migration of VMware Workloads - Bringing Your Existing Environment to AWS As Is with Amazon EVS
An explanation of migrating VMware workloads to AWS with Amazon Elastic VMware Service (EVS). This article introduces VPC integration, migration steps with HCX, and the design of connectivity with on-premises environments.
Background Behind the Demand for Cloud Migration of VMware Environments
Many enterprises have built virtualization environments on the VMware vSphere platform for 10 or more years. However, cases have been reported in which changes to the licensing structure after Broadcom's acquisition of VMware (the shift from perpetual licenses to subscriptions and changes to bundle configurations) increased the cost of operating VMware on premises. In addition, with challenges such as aging data centers, the burden of hardware refresh cycles, and the cost of maintaining DR sites piling up, a growing number of enterprises are considering migrating VMware workloads to the cloud. Amazon EVS is a service that can run VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) natively on AWS. It lets you make use of AWS scalability and its range of services while continuing to use your existing vCenter, vSAN, and NSX as they are.
Amazon EVS Architecture and VPC Integration
One of the features of Amazon EVS is that it runs the VMware environment directly on EC2 bare metal instances inside an Amazon VPC. Whereas the earlier VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) provided a dedicated SDDC environment, EVS runs inside the customer's VPC, so network integration with AWS services becomes simple. ESXi hosts run on i4i.metal instances, and you can increase or decrease the number of hosts. Because they connect directly to subnets in the VPC, they can communicate with AWS services such as RDS, S3, Lambda, and EKS over private IP addresses, and there is no need to go through NAT or a proxy. You can use network virtualization with NSX as it is, and you can carry over microsegmentation and load balancing settings from the migration source.
Migration Steps with HCX and Minimizing Downtime
VMware HCX (Hybrid Cloud Extension) is a tool that supports migrating workloads from on premises to EVS. With HCX vMotion, you can perform live migration of virtual machines while they keep running, and you can keep downtime short. When migrating a large number of VMs at once, you use HCX Bulk Migration and migrate them together within a maintenance window. The migration flow begins with (1) deploying the EVS cluster, (2) HCX pairing between on premises and EVS, and (3) configuring network extension (L2 stretch). It then continues with (4) selecting the VMs to migrate and running the migration, and (5) switching DNS and converging the network. Using L2 stretch means you do not have to change IP addresses even during migration. After the migration is complete, you remove the L2 stretch and converge onto the network on the EVS side.
EVS Pricing
Amazon EVS pricing centers on hourly charges for dedicated hosts (i4i.metal). i4i.metal costs about $10.90 per hour (about $7,848 per month), and the cost increases with the number of hosts (as of August 2026). VMware licenses are BYOL (Bring Your Own License), and you either bring your existing licenses or purchase them from AWS Marketplace. Compared with an on-premises VMware environment (hardware + licenses + data center costs), there are cases where you can lower TCO.
Cases Suited to EVS
Amazon EVS is a service that lets you bring your existing VMware environment onto AWS in almost the same form. It is suited to cases such as when there is no room to rewrite applications, when you want to retain familiar VMware operations tools and skills, or when you want to move to the cloud first. Even in a large environment where converting virtual machines individually would take a lot of effort, you can migrate the entire VMware platform, so it is effective in the early stages of migration. Being able to move away from the data center without modifying applications is a major motivation for choosing EVS. It becomes the foundation for a strategy of moving first and optimizing afterward.
Connectivity with On-Premises Environments and Hybrid Operations
Migration to EVS does not necessarily finish all at once, and on-premises and cloud environments coexist during the migration period. During this time, you need to connect the two over a network so that they can communicate with each other. You connect the on-premises data center and AWS with a dedicated line or VPN to secure a stable path. You can proceed with the migration in phases by going through hybrid operations in which some systems move to the cloud first and the rest stay on premises while working together with them. Designing connection redundancy and name resolution is also important. A network design that anticipates the transition period of migration supports a smooth migration.
Modernization Path After Migration
Moving your VMware environment as it is with EVS is the starting point for making use of the cloud. Once the migration has settled down, you can advance modernization by adopting AWS services in phases. You can gradually reduce your dependence on VMware in ways such as replacing databases with managed services and moving some applications to containers or serverless. Rather than rebuilding everything at once, modernizing in order, starting with the items that have a large effect, lets you draw out the benefits of the cloud while keeping risk down. EVS plays the role of a bridge that connects the immediate migration and the modernization that follows.
Operations and Making Use of Existing Tools
One of the benefits of EVS is that you can keep using the VMware operations tools and procedures you have used on premises after the migration. Operations teams can manage virtual machines in familiar ways without relearning a new way of operating from scratch. This lets you keep down the operational disruption and learning costs that come with migration. At the same time, by integrating with AWS services such as networking, storage, and monitoring, you can also bring in the flexibility unique to the cloud. Because you can gradually get used to operating on AWS while making use of existing operational assets, it becomes easy to carry out a migration that keeps the burden on the organization down.
Summary - Guidelines for VMware Migration with EVS
Amazon EVS provides a migration path that lets you bring your VMware environment to AWS as it is. Its main features are integration with AWS services inside the VPC, migration with HCX, and continued use of existing operational procedures. It is suited to enterprises that are considering responding to Broadcom's licensing changes, consolidating data centers, and moving DR sites to the cloud. In migration planning, we recommend first organizing the dependencies of the target workloads, defining migration waves (groups), and then proceeding with the migration in phases.
References (Official AWS Resources)
The primary sources for this page are the official AWS website and documentation. Check the official pages below for the latest specifications and pricing.
- Amazon EVS official page
- AWS Direct Connect official page
- Amazon VPC official page
- AWS Documentation (official)
If this page and the official documentation disagree, treat the official documentation as authoritative.