Azure to AWS Migration & Infrastructure Modernization

Overview

Migrated a production web application ecosystem from Microsoft Azure to Amazon Web Services (AWS), covering Development, QA, and Production environments while maintaining application availability and minimizing downtime.

The existing platform consisted of a React frontend hosted as an Azure Static Web App, a Node.js backend on Azure App Service, an Azure SQL Database, and Azure Storage Accounts. The objective was to modernize the architecture, improve operational flexibility, optimize costs, and leverage AWS-native services.

Architecture

Source architecture (Azure)

• Frontend — React application on Azure Static Web App.
• Backend — Node.js application on Azure App Service.
• Database — Azure SQL Database (MSSQL).
• Storage — Azure Storage Account.
• CI/CD — GitHub Actions.

Target architecture (AWS)

• Frontend — Amazon S3 + Amazon CloudFront, secured with AWS Certificate Manager (ACM).
• Backend — Dockerized Node.js application on AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Docker platform).
• Database — Amazon RDS for SQL Server.
• Storage — Amazon S3.
• Security — ACM for TLS and IAM-based access controls.
• CI/CD — GitHub Actions (retained).

Business challenges

The Azure environment supported multiple application environments and business-critical workloads, so the migration required:

• Minimal downtime during cutover.
• Preservation of existing CI/CD workflows.
• Secure migration of application data and storage.
• Infrastructure modernization without impacting end users.
• Consistent deployment processes across Development, QA, and Production.

Migration strategy

The migration was executed in phases to reduce risk and ensure business continuity.

Phase 1 — Assessment & planning

Reviewed the existing Azure architecture, identified dependencies between frontend, backend, database, and storage, defined the migration sequence and rollback procedures, and planned environment-specific activities for Development, QA, and Production.

Phase 2 — Infrastructure provisioning

Provisioned the AWS environments, configured networking and security controls, created the Amazon RDS instances, configured S3 buckets and CloudFront distributions, and implemented SSL certificates with AWS ACM.

Phase 3 — Application modernization

Rather than lifting-and-shifting the existing backend deployment model, the Node.js application was containerized with Docker — delivering consistent deployments, improved portability, simplified scaling, and fewer environment-specific issues — then deployed on AWS Elastic Beanstalk’s Docker platform.

Phase 4 — Data migration

Migrated the SQL Server databases from Azure SQL Database to Amazon RDS, moved application assets from Azure Storage Accounts to Amazon S3, and performed validation testing to ensure data integrity.

Phase 5 — Cutover & validation

Updated DNS configurations, validated application functionality across all environments, performed smoke and regression testing, and executed the production cutover with minimal downtime.

CI/CD architecture

The existing GitHub Actions pipelines were preserved throughout the migration:

1. Developer pushes code to GitHub.
2. GitHub Actions executes build and validation steps.
3. The Docker image is built.
4. The application is deployed to Elastic Beanstalk.
5. CloudFront cache invalidation runs when frontend changes are released.

This minimized disruption to development workflows while improving deployment consistency.

Security enhancements

Several security improvements were introduced during the migration:

• SSL/TLS certificate management with AWS ACM.
• Centralized access control through AWS IAM.
• Secure storage on Amazon S3.
• Network isolation and security-group controls.
• A containerized backend deployment model.

Results & outcomes

• Availability — migrated Development, QA, and Production with minimal downtime.
• Modernization — containerized the backend with Docker and adopted AWS-native services.
• Scalability — improved frontend scalability via CloudFront + S3 and simplified backend scaling with Elastic Beanstalk.
• Operational efficiency — preserved the existing GitHub Actions workflows and standardized deployments across environments.
• Security — improved certificate management with ACM and tighter access control through IAM.

Key takeaway

This migration transformed a multi-environment Azure-hosted application into a modern AWS-native architecture — maintaining business continuity, minimizing downtime, preserving CI/CD processes, and improving scalability, security, and operational efficiency.