Definition
Lift and shift, also known as rehosting, is a cloud migration strategy where an application is moved from an on-premises environment to the cloud with minimal changes. The core idea is to take existing virtual machines or servers and move them to cloud infrastructure, such as virtual machines in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. This approach matters on the job because it allows organizations to quickly leverage the scalability and cost-efficiency of the cloud without extensive application refactoring. For example, a company might move its entire on-premises data center to cloud-based virtual servers to reduce hardware maintenance costs. A common confusion is that lift and shift is the same as modernizing an application, but it is a distinct first step. Accurate exams for this topic include the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and Azure Fundamentals.