GCP to AWS

Migrating from Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to Amazon Web Services (AWS) requires careful planning, mapping of services, and process adaptation. This guide provides actionable steps, real-life examples, and best practices for a successful migration.

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Quick Comparison: GCP vs AWS Services

GCP Service	AWS Equivalent	Notes
Compute Engine	EC2	VM types and images differ
Cloud Storage	S3	APIs and access models vary
Cloud IAM	IAM	RBAC and identity federation differ
Cloud SQL	RDS	Migration tools available
Cloud Functions	Lambda	Triggers and bindings differ
Deployment Manager	CloudFormation	Syntax and capabilities differ
Stackdriver Monitoring	CloudWatch	Metrics and logging integration varies
VPC	VPC	Subnet and peering models differ
GKE (Kubernetes Engine)	EKS	Cluster management differs
Cloud DNS	Route 53	Record types and automation differ

Tip: AWS Service Comparison Table

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Migration Checklist

• Inventory GCP Resources Use gcloud CLI: gcloud asset search-all-resources --format=json > gcp-inventory.json

• Map GCP Services to AWS Equivalents Create a mapping table for all services in use.

• Assess Application Dependencies Identify hardcoded endpoints, region-specific services, and OS dependencies.

• Plan Identity and Access Migration Prepare to migrate Cloud IAM users/groups to AWS IAM.

• Network Planning Design AWS VPCs to match or improve your GCP VPC topology.

• Translate Infrastructure as Code Convert Deployment Manager templates to CloudFormation or Terraform.

• Migrate Data Use AWS CLI S3 sync or AWS DataSync for storage migration.

• Migrate Identity Set up AWS IAM, and test user access.

• Refactor Applications Update code/configs to use AWS SDKs and endpoints.

• Test and Validate Use CloudWatch and X-Ray for validation.

• Update DNS Point domains to AWS endpoints (Route 53).

• Monitor and Optimize Use AWS Cost Explorer and Trusted Advisor.

• Decommission GCP Resources Confirm all data is migrated and backups are complete before deleting.

• Update Documentation Revise runbooks and architecture diagrams.

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Migration Steps (with Examples)

1. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Translation

• Example: Convert Deployment Manager templates to CloudFormation or Terraform.

  • Use dm-convert to export, then adapt to AWS.

  • Example Terraform snippet for AWS EC2:

    resource "aws_instance" "example" {
      ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
      instance_type = "t2.micro"
      # ...
    }

2. Data Migration

• Example: Migrate Cloud Storage buckets to S3 using AWS CLI S3 sync:

  aws s3 sync "gs://my-gcp-bucket" s3://my-aws-bucket --recursive

3. Identity Migration

• Example: Sync GCP IAM users to AWS IAM using AWS SSO or SAML federation.

4. Application Refactoring

• Update code/configs to use AWS SDKs and endpoints.

• Replace GCP Cloud Functions triggers with Lambda event sources.

5. Testing and Validation

• Use CloudWatch and X-Ray for post-migration validation.

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Post-Migration Tasks

• Update DNS: Point domains to AWS endpoints (e.g., Route 53).

• Monitor and Optimize: Use AWS Cost Explorer and Trusted Advisor.

• Decommission GCP Resources: Ensure all data is migrated and backups are complete before deleting.

• Documentation: Update runbooks and architecture diagrams.

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Best Practices & Common Pitfalls

• Start with Non-Production Workloads: Validate migration steps before moving critical systems.

• Automate Everything: Use Terraform/Ansible for repeatable deployments.

• Watch for Service Limits: AWS and GCP have different quotas.

• Security Review: Reassess security groups, NACLs, and IAM/RBAC policies.

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Cloud Hopping Humor

Why did the cloud engineer bring a GPS to the GCP to AWS migration?

To make sure they didn’t get lost in the clouds!

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References

• AWS Service Comparison Table

• AWS Migration Hub

• Terraform AWS Provider Docs

• AWS CLI S3 Sync