SQL Server database migration methods
There are various methods to migrate your SQL Server databases to AWS. You can choose these methods based on your assessment and requirements. This section describes some of the most common methods, which are summarized in the following table. Detailed discussions of some of these methods are included in the sections on Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS later in this guide.
Migration method | Target | Features and limitations | More information |
---|---|---|---|
Native backup and restore |
Amazon EC2 Amazon RDS |
|
Native SQL Server backup/restore section |
Log shipping |
Amazon EC2 Amazon RDS |
|
Log shipping section |
Database mirroring |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Database mirroring section |
Always On availability groups |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Always On availability groups section |
Basic Always On availability groups |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Not covered in this guide (see Basic Always On availability groups for a single database |
Distributed availability groups |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Distributed availability groups section |
Transactional replication |
Amazon EC2 Amazon RDS |
|
Transactional replication section |
AWS Snowball Edge |
Amazon EC2 Amazon RDS |
|
Snowball Edge section |
CloudEndure Migration |
Amazon EC2 |
|
CloudEndure Migration section |
AWS DMS |
Amazon EC2 Amazon RDS Amazon Aurora |
|
AWS DMS section |
Bulk copy program (bcp) |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Not covered in this guide (see Importing and exporting SQL Server data using other methods, Bulk copy section in the Amazon RDS documentation) |
Detach and attach |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Not covered in this guide (see Database Detach and Attach |
Import/export |
Amazon EC2 |
|
Not covered in this guide (see Importing and exporting SQL Server data using other methods in the Amazon RDS documentation) |