AZ-305 Question 202
Single answerContoso, a global manufacturing company, plans to migrate its on-premises workloads to Azure. They have decided to adopt the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) for Azure to ensure the migration is well-structured and financially viable. As part of their 'Plan' phase, they need to evaluate their existing data center assets, uncover dependencies, and estimate total cost of ownership (TCO). Which approach best aligns with recommended practices in the CAF to accomplish these objectives before starting the actual migration?
- A
Begin with a direct 'lift and shift' of the most critical applications to Azure and refine them post-deployment
- B
Use Azure Migrate to discover on-premises workloads, assess readiness, and estimate costs prior to migration
- C
Migrate a small pilot workload without any dependency mapping to validate Azure performance
- D
Limit the assessment to high-level cost modeling and commence migration immediately
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
According to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), thorough assessment and planning are essential before conducting a full production migration. Azure Migrate is a recommended tool to perform workload discovery, dependency analysis, and TCO estimation, aligning with the 'Plan' phase goals of understanding both technical and business requirements. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework documentation on 'Plan' and 'Ready' stages and the Azure Migrate user guides.
- A. Incorrect.
Option 1 is incorrect because starting with a direct lift and shift without a thorough assessment can lead to missed dependencies, unexpected costs, and potential downtime, which the CAF specifically advises to address during the 'Plan' and 'Ready' phases.
- B. Correct.
Option 2 is correct. The Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework recommends a discovery and assessment process (often using Azure Migrate) to identify dependencies, estimate TCO, and determine workloads' cloud readiness. This aligns with the 'Plan' phase objective of systematically evaluating the migration environment.
- C. Incorrect.
Option 3 is incorrect because migrating a small pilot workload might provide limited insight if you skip dependency mapping. While pilot migrations can validate certain aspects of Azure, CAF emphasizes comprehensive readiness assessments first.
- D. Incorrect.
Option 4 is incorrect because limiting the assessment to mere cost modeling without detailed dependency checks and proper planning may lead to unanticipated complexities. The CAF advises an in-depth evaluation before any production migration.