If you are a user of Amazon Web Services, you might be very grateful to see their latest announcement… You can now import Linux VMs from your own environment into EC2. This will open up more possibilities when it comes to implementing a true “lift & shift” initiative.
AWS has had this capability for a while now, albeit in a limited fashion. Previously, you could only import Windows 2003 & 2008 VMs into EC2. For VMware shops, AWS also has a connector appliance that integrates with your on-premise environment and allows you to run the migration process through a wizard-type interface. I will be putting it through its paces and will follow-up with a new post.
You can read about the general announcement here: http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2013/12/16/announcing-vm-import-for-linux/
You can read about the connector for vCenter here: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/UsingEC2VMImportConnector.html
