Lift-and-Shift

Lift-and-Shift (rehosting) is a migration strategy that consists of moving a system from one environment to another — typically from on-premises to cloud — without modifying its architecture, application code, or configuration. The system is taken as-is and “lifted and shifted.”

How it works #

The infrastructure is replicated in the target environment: same virtual machines, same databases, same middleware. The advantage is speed: no code rewriting, no architectural redesign. The risk is carrying over all the problems from the original environment, including inefficiencies and technical debt.

When to use it #

When the priority is exiting a datacenter quickly (contract expiration, hardware decommission), when the budget does not allow rearchitecture, or as the first phase of an incremental migration where components are then modernized one by one.

What can go wrong #

A lift-and-shift to cloud without optimization can cost more than the original on-premises infrastructure. Applications not designed for cloud do not leverage elasticity, auto-scaling, and managed services. The result is often a private datacenter rebuilt in the cloud at a higher price.