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AWS to GCP

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

Quick Comparison: AWS vs GCP Services

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

Tip: GCP’s AWS to GCP service mapping

Migration Checklist

  • Inventory AWS Resources
    Use AWS CLI:
    aws resourcegroupstaggingapi get-resources > aws-inventory.json
  • Map AWS Services to GCP 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 IAM users/groups to Cloud IAM.
  • Network Planning
    Design GCP VPCs to match or improve your AWS VPC topology.
  • Translate Infrastructure as Code
    Convert CloudFormation templates to Deployment Manager or Terraform.
  • Migrate Data
    Use gsutil or Storage Transfer Service for storage migration.
  • Migrate Identity
    Set up Cloud IAM, and test user access.
  • Refactor Applications
    Update code/configs to use GCP SDKs and endpoints.
  • Test and Validate
    Use Stackdriver Monitoring and Logging for validation.
  • Update DNS
    Point domains to GCP endpoints (Cloud DNS).
  • Monitor and Optimize
    Use GCP Cost Management and Recommender.
  • Decommission AWS Resources
    Confirm all data is migrated and backups are complete before deleting.
  • Update Documentation
    Revise runbooks and architecture diagrams.

Migration Steps (with Examples)

1. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Translation

  • Example: Convert CloudFormation templates to Deployment Manager or Terraform.
    • Use Former2 to export AWS resources to Terraform, then adapt to GCP.

    • Example Terraform snippet for GCP VM:

      resource "google_compute_instance" "example" {
  name         = "example-vm"
  machine_type = "e2-medium"
  zone         = "us-central1-a"
  # ...
}

2. Data Migration

  • Example: Migrate S3 buckets to Cloud Storage using gsutil:

    gsutil -m cp -r s3://mybucket gs://my-gcp-bucket

3. Identity Migration

4. Application Refactoring

  • Update code/configs to use GCP SDKs and endpoints.
  • Replace AWS Lambda triggers with Cloud Functions triggers.

5. Testing and Validation

  • Use Stackdriver Monitoring and Logging for post-migration validation.

Post-Migration Tasks

  • Update DNS: Point domains to GCP endpoints (e.g., Cloud DNS).
  • Monitor and Optimize: Use GCP Cost Management and Recommender.
  • Decommission AWS Resources: Ensure all data is migrated and backups are complete before deleting.
  • Documentation: Update runbooks and architecture diagrams.

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: GCP and AWS have different quotas.
  • Security Review: Reassess security groups, firewall rules, and IAM/RBAC policies.

Cloud Hopping Humor

Why did the DevOps engineer take a surfboard to the AWS to GCP migration?

Because they heard the best waves are in the Google Cloud!

References