Link Search Menu Expand Document Documentation Menu
Documentation

You're viewing the current version of Migration Assistant documentation (Kubernetes/EKS-based). For the classic ECS/CDK-based version, see the classic documentation.

Migration workflows

Migration Assistant is workflow-driven. You choose a migration pattern, configure it once, run a pilot, validate the result, and then execute the cutover.

Common lifecycle

Most migrations follow the same lifecycle:

  1. Assess compatibility, unsupported components, and downtime needs.
  2. Deploy Migration Assistant on Kubernetes or Amazon EKS.
  3. Configure the workflow from the sample for your installed version.
  4. Run a pilot on a small allow list.
  5. Submit the full workflow and monitor it through the Workflow CLI.
  6. Approve gated transitions only after validation.
  7. Cut over to the target.
  8. Remove infrastructure only after the rollback window has passed.

Scenario 1: Backfill only

Best for clusters where you can tolerate a brief write freeze or where writes can be paused and replayed from an external queue. The following diagram shows the workflow:

Snapshot source → Migrate metadata → Backfill documents → Verify → Switch traffic

Scenario 2: Capture and Replay only

Best when the data is small enough that live replay alone can synchronize the target, or when you want to replay traffic against multiple target clusters to compare results. The following diagram shows the workflow:

Reroute traffic to capture proxy → Migrate metadata → Replay traffic → Verify → Switch traffic to target

Scenario 3: Backfill + Capture and Replay (zero-downtime)

Capture begins first so no writes are lost, then backfill brings over historical data, then replay catches the target up to real-time. The following diagram shows the workflow:

Reroute traffic to capture proxy → Snapshot source → Migrate metadata → Backfill documents → Replay captured traffic → Verify → Switch traffic to target

Phase overview

The following table describes each phase of the migration workflow.

Phase Description Guide
Assessment Review breaking changes and plan your migration Version-agnostic
Choose your deployment Deploy Migration Assistant on Kubernetes or EKS Kubernetes / EKS
Reroute client traffic to capture proxy Route traffic through the capture proxy to record writes Capture and Replay only
Migrate metadata Transfer index settings, mappings, templates, and aliases Workflow CLI
Backfill Migrate documents using snapshot-based reindexing (RFS) Workflow CLI
Replay captured traffic Replay recorded traffic to catch the target up to real-time Capture and Replay only
Switch traffic to the target Redirect clients from capture proxy to the target cluster Capture and Replay only
Remove infrastructure Remove Migration Assistant resources Helm/CloudFormation

Components not migrated automatically

Migration Assistant does not migrate the following components automatically. You must migrate them separately:

  • Security configuration
  • ISM or ILM policies
  • Ingest pipelines
  • Dashboards or Kibana saved objects
  • Data streams
  • Cluster-level tuning

Next steps

For more information, see the following resources:

350 characters left

Have a question? .

Want to contribute? or .