Migration Guide: How to Move from a Hyperscaler to a VMware-based Private Cloud

We all at AceCloud know why you’re migrating to a VMware-based private cloud. You’ve realized that the very flexibility and scale of hyperscalers like AWS, Azure and GCP (that once helped you move fast) are now causing cost sprawl, compliance challenges and loss of control.

And guess what? You’re not alone.

• A 2025 Broadcom survey of ~1,800 IT decision-makers found that 69% are considering repatriating workloads back to private clouds to gain better control, security and cost predictability.

• The survey highlighted that about one-third of organizations have already repatriated some workloads, with nearly 70% considering it.

You see, hyperscalers’ near-infinite scalability, managed services and pay-as-you-go pricing make them attractive for rapid growth and innovation. However, as workloads mature and cloud bills increase, organizations begin to reassess their long-term infrastructure strategy.

Moreover, workloads that were “cloud-first” don’t always stay cost-effective when usage patterns stabilize or become predictable.

In short, you need to move on. Fast.

And to facilitate that, we designed a guide to help IT teams, architects and decision-makers plan and execute a smooth migration from hyperscaler environments to a VMware-based private cloud.

Together, we’ll walk through cloud migration issues like –

• Why organizations choose to migrate?
• How to evaluate and categorize your workloads?
• What tools to use for VM and data migration?
• How to design your new VMware environment?
• What best practices to follow for a seamless transition?

So, whether you’re looking to repatriate specific workloads, move toward hybrid infrastructure, or exit public cloud entirely, this guide will give you a detailed, step-by-step roadmap. Let’s get started.

Phase 1: Pre-Migration Planning and Assessment

A successful migration isn’t just about copying virtual machines from one environment to another. It requires deep planning, accurate discovery and a clear understanding of how your workloads behave, interact and scale.

Without proper assessment, you risk moving the wrong workloads, under-provisioning critical services, or carrying over inefficiencies from the cloud.

You don’t want that, do you?

So, this section outlines the key steps you must take to plan your migration from a hyperscaler to a VMware-based private cloud.

Inventory Discovery: Know What You’re Running

Before any migration begins, you need a complete and up-to-date inventory of your cloud environment. We recommend you create a centralized asset inventory spreadsheet or database with relevant technical specs and tags.

• Virtual machines: Instance types, vCPU, RAM, disk size/type, operating system.
• Storage: Volumes, buckets, performance classes (for example, AWS EBS gp3 vs io2).
• Networking: VPCs, subnets, security groups, IP ranges, NAT gateways.
• Application stack: Web servers, application servers, databases, caches, message queues.
• Cloud services: PaaS offerings like RDS, BigQuery, Azure SQL, Cloud Functions.

Here are the tools required for inventory discovery,

Cloud	Native Tool	Description
AWS	Application Discovery Service (ADS), Migration Hub	Tracks running instances, configurations and dependencies
Azure	Azure Migrate	Performs VM discovery and dependency mapping
GCP	StratoZone (via Migrate for Compute Engine)	Provides sizing, inventory and cost estimation reports

Dependency Mapping: Understand Workload Relationships

We know that a major challenge in migrations is breaking application dependencies. Moving only part of an app stack, say the frontend but not the database, can cause service disruptions or performance drops. You need a dependency map that clearly shows which components must be migrated together.

Here are the key tools and techniques required for dependency mapping –

• Application Performance Monitoring (APM): Use tools like Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Datadog, or New Relic to trace live traffic paths.
• Network Flow Analysis: Collect traffic patterns using NetFlow, IPFIX, or VMware Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRNI).
• Tagging and Grouping: Identify app tiers (frontend, backend, DB) and group them for unified migration.

Workload Categorization: Define Your Migration Strategy

Not all workloads are created equal and not all should be migrated the same way. Classify your workloads into the following categories –

Pro Tip: Connect with our VMware experts or use VMware’s CloudHealth or CloudPhysics for deeper insight into usage, costs and performance trends.

Sizing and Resource Planning

Cloud VMs may be over-provisioned or auto-scaled. Private cloud requires right-sizing to ensure performance while optimizing resource usage.

• Analyze CPU, memory, disk and IOPS usage over time.
• Identify idle or underutilized VMs.
• Map cloud instance types (for example, AWS t3.large) to vSphere VM specs.

For example,

AWS Instance	vSphere Equivalent	Notes
t3.large (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM)	2 vCPU, 8 GB VM	Use vSphere reservations if latency-sensitive

Security and Compliance Review

This is critical. Moving to private cloud means taking direct ownership of security operations. For this, you’ll have to —

• Audit IAM roles, policies and key management in the cloud.
• Review firewall rules, security groups and encryption settings.
• Identify workloads with regulatory sensitivity (for example, HIPAA, GDPR).

Plan how you’ll replicate or enhance security configurations using —

• VMware NSX for micro segmentation and L4–L7 firewalling.
• VMware vSphere access control (RBAC, AD integration).
• SIEM integration (vRealize Log Insight, Splunk, ELK).

TCO and ROI Analysis

To ensure migration makes financial sense, conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis comparing –

• Current hyperscaler spend (compute, storage, data transfer).
• Estimated private cloud infrastructure + license cost.
• Operational expenses (staffing, tooling, support).
• Migration project cost (tools, consulting, downtime).

Include non-monetary benefits like –

• Enhanced compliance
• Operational control
• Strategic vendor independence

Once your assessment is complete, you’ll be ready to design your target VMware private cloud environment and begin planning for migration execution (will cover in Phase 3).

Phase 2: Designing the Target VMware Private Cloud

Once you’ve audited your workloads and mapped dependencies, the next step is designing a target environment that is secure, performant, scalable and ready for seamless workload migration.

VMware-based private clouds offer multiple architecture options depending on your use case, performance expectations and deployment preference.

Whether you’re building your own datacenter or using a VMware-powered hosted private cloud provider, this section walks you through how to architect a robust foundation.

Choosing the Right VMware Stack

The VMware ecosystem offers flexibility, but the right stack depends on your operational model and goals.

Here are the common options available at the time of writing —

Deployment	Stack	Description
Self-hosted on-prem	vSphere, vSAN, NSX	Full control; ideal for enterprises with datacenter presence and compliance requirements
Hosted private cloud	VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or vSphere-based IaaS	Delivered by providers like AceCloud, Equinix, OVH, etc.; fast setup, minimal infra overhead
Managed VMware on hyperscalers	VMware Cloud on AWS, Azure VMware Solution	Bridge between hyperscaler services and VMware tooling; not a full exit

Questions you should ask –

• Do we need geographic redundancy?
• How many productions vs. test/dev workloads?
• What are our storage and backup SLAs?
• Will we need Kubernetes support (Tanzu)?

Pro Tip: Choose a deployment model that balances control, cost and complexity for your needs.

Networking and Security Architecture

Migrating from public cloud introduces key networking shifts since now you own the network perimeter, not AWS or Azure. It’s critical to define clear segmentation, routing and security policies up front.

Here are the core considerations for you –

• IP Addressing Plan: Avoid overlaps with cloud VPCs; reserve non-routable IP ranges per workload tier.
• Virtual Networking: Use VMware NSX for logical switches, routers, NAT and firewalling.
• L2/L3 Connectivity: Ensure connectivity between on-prem, cloud VPCs (if hybrid) and the new environment.
• VPNs / Direct Connect: Establish site-to-site VPN or private link for hybrid scenarios.
• Micro segmentation: Use NSX Distributed Firewall to segment east-west traffic within the environment.

Meanwhile, these security best practices will make migration easier –

• Isolate frontend, app and DB tiers with NSX segments.
• Restrict management plane access with jump boxes and firewalls.
• Enable TLS encryption, logging and intrusion detection (for example, IDS/IPS integration).

Identity, Access and Permissions

Unlike hyperscaler IAM policies, VMware environments typically rely on Active Directory, LDAP, or SSO integrations for access control. Plan your user and role mapping early.

Key actions you should consider –

• Integrating vCenter with your existing Active Directory/SSO provider.
• Defining roles and RBAC for operations (for example, View-Only, VM Admin, Network Admin).
• Auditing and restricting access to VCF components, NSX Manager and vRealize Ops.

This setup ensures that as teams begin managing workloads post-migration, they operate with least privilege and traceable access.

Storage and Backup Design

This goes without saying. A sound storage architecture ensures application performance and data durability.

Here were the options available at the time of writing –

• VMware vSAN: Hyperconverged storage ideal for general workloads.
• NFS/iSCSI SAN: For high-performance databases or compliance-mandated storage.
• Object Storage Gateways: Integrate with S3-compatible storage for backups or archival.

Recommended backup strategy –

• Integrate Veeam, Commvault, or VMware Data Protection for automated backups.
• Schedule snapshot policies per VM tier.
• Replicate backups offsite for DR.

Workload Placement and Resource Pools

VMware lets you use resource pools, clusters and affinity rules to prioritize workload performance and segregation.

For example,

• Use a resource pool with guaranteed CPU/memory for production workloads.
• Apply affinity/anti-affinity rules for multi-node DB clusters.
• Deploy HA clusters for critical workloads.

Also, determine whether you want dedicated hosts per tenant/team or shared infrastructure with logical separation (via vApps or resource pools).

Monitoring, Logging and Visibility

Visibility in private cloud is your responsibility. So, set up observability from day one.

Tools recommended –

• VMware Aria Operations (vRealize) for performance monitoring and capacity planning.
• VMware Aria Operations for Logs (Log Insight) for event logging.
• Third-party integrations like Prometheus + Grafana, ELK stack, Splunk and others.

Monitoring scope –

• VM health and resource usage
• Network flows and firewall events
• Storage IOPS and latency
• System and user activity logs

PHASE 3: Executing the Migration

With your workloads assessed and your VMware private cloud environment ready, it’s time to execute the migration. This phase requires careful planning, tooling and coordination to minimize downtime, avoid data loss and ensure business continuity.

Whether you’re lifting and shifting VMs or replatforming cloud-native services, the execution strategy needs to be phased, automated where possible and backed by rollback plans.

Select the Right Migration Method

There’s no one-size-fits-all. The right approach depends on workload type, interdependencies and acceptable downtime.

Common methods are –

Method	Description	Best For
Lift-and-Shift (Rehost)	Move VMs as-is from cloud to vSphere with minimal changes	General-purpose apps, legacy workloads
Cold Migration	Stop workload, export image, move and restart	Low-risk, non-critical apps
Live Migration / Replication	Continuous replication + cutover with minimal downtime	Databases, production services
Replatforming	Replace managed services (for example, RDS, GKE) with self-managed equivalents	PaaS workloads
Containerization	Package and deploy app in Tanzu Kubernetes Grid or another container runtime	Stateless, modern apps

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Leverage Migration Tools

Use robust tools to automate migration tasks, track status and ensure consistency.

Here are the recommended tools by platform,

Source	Tool	Use Case
AWS, Azure, GCP	VMware HCX (Hybrid Cloud Extension)	Live VM migration, bulk migration, replication, network extension
AWS	CloudEndure (for lift-and-shift)	Continuous block-level replication
Azure	Azure Migrate + HCX	Assessment + HCX for vSphere
Any	VMware Converter Standalone	Small-scale image-based migration
Cloud-native DBs	Native export/import or Dump + Restore	RDS to PostgreSQL on vSphere, for example
Containers	Velero, Helm, kubectl, Kasten	Backup and migrate Kubernetes apps

Plan Migration Waves (Phased Approach)

Avoid migrating everything at once. Break workloads into migration waves based on business impact, dependency maps and technical complexity.

A sample wave strategy looks like this —

Wave 1 – Non-critical dev/test VMs with few dependencies

Wave 2 – Internal services (monitoring, logging, CI/CD)

Wave 3 – Medium-complexity apps with 2–3 tiers

Wave 4 – High-availability production workloads

Wave 5 – Databases and stateful services

Wave 6 – Remaining cloud-native or replatformed apps

Moreover, each wave should follow a repeatable process that looks something like this:

• Prep and replicate
• Test (in parallel if needed)
• Cut over
• Validate
• Document and move to next wave
• Ensure Downtime Management and Rollback Plans

Even if you’re aiming for zero-downtime, always plan for cutover periods and rollback mechanisms.

Here are the steps to minimize risk —

1. Schedule migrations during low-traffic windows.
2. Notify users and stakeholders in advance.
3. Create pre-migration backups and VM snapshots.
4. Validate data consistency (especially for databases).
5. Use DNS TTL reduction to make app switchover smoother.

If a migration fails, here’s what you should do —

1. Roll back to snapshot or original instance.
2. Engage recovery runbooks.
3. Troubleshoot offline before retrying.

Testing and Post-Cutover Validation

Every workload must be tested immediately after migration to ensure functionality, performance and integrations are intact.

Key checklist to follow —

• Can users log in?
• Are APIs and integrations functioning?
• Is latency/performance within acceptable range?
• Are logs and metrics being collected?
• Is backup/DR enabled and scheduled?

Automated health checks and synthetic monitoring can speed up this phase significantly.

Optimize Post-Migration

After the dust settles, use this time to —

• Right-size VMs based on real usage.
• Apply security hardening and baseline configurations.
• Tune resource allocation and scheduling.
• Clean up unused services in the source cloud to avoid cost leakage.
• Document all changes and update runbooks.

Once workloads are running smoothly in your VMware private cloud, you can begin reaping the benefits of predictable performance, cost control and full-stack visibility.

PHASE 4: Post-Migration Best Practices and Optimization

Your workloads are now live in the VMware private cloud. But the journey isn’t over. What you do after migration will determine whether your move was just a relocation, or a true transformation.

This phase is about stabilizing the environment, optimizing resources, tightening security and evolving your private cloud into a mature, self-sustaining platform. It’s where short-term wins meet long-term strategic value.

Performance Tuning and Resource Optimization

Cloud workloads often carry inefficiencies like over-provisioned resources, legacy configurations, unused storage. Now’s your chance to fix that.

Key actions we recommend —

• Right-size VMs: Use vSphere metrics to resize based on CPU/memory trends.
• Tune storage: Identify and consolidate underutilized volumes, shift cold data to lower-tier storage.
• Optimize clusters: Balance VM placement, enable DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler).
• Review reservations and limits: Avoid unnecessary performance caps on VMs.
• Enable vSphere HA and DRS: Improve availability and load balancing.

We highly recommend you use tools like VMware Aria Operations (formerly vRealize) for continuous monitoring and rightsizing recommendations.

Establish a Strong Operational Baseline

To maintain consistency, you need defined configurations, standards and guardrails across your VMware environment.

Create baselines for —

• VM templates with preconfigured OS, agents and security settings.
• vSphere roles and permissions.
• Logging and monitoring configurations.
• Backup policies per workload tier.
• Network and firewall rules using NSX or vSphere Distributed Switch.

Automate provisioning and enforce drift detection using VMware Aria Automation, Terraform, or Ansible.

Harden Security and Compliance Posture

Now that you’re in full control of the infrastructure, it’s time to tighten the screws on security.

Here are the best practices to follow —

• Segment networks using NSX microsegmentation.
• Regularly scan for vulnerabilities using Qualys, Nessus, or similar.
• Enable VM encryption for sensitive workloads.
• Rotate credentials, API tokens and service accounts.
• Set up SIEM integration with Splunk or Log Insight.
• Review and restrict admin access across vSphere, NSX and backup platforms.

Note: Also run compliance audits (PCI, HIPAA, ISO) to ensure alignment with regulatory needs.

Decommission or Archive Unused Assets

Don’t forget to clean up the leftovers, cloud or private.

In VMware —

• Identify idle or abandoned VMs using performance reports.
• Power down and archive unused test/dev workloads.
• Remove unattached disks, unused snapshots and ISO files.
• Tag and archive legacy data to object storage or low-cost archival tiers.

In Hyperscaler —

• Ensure cloud services are deprovisioned to avoid shadow billing.
• Shut down old cloud accounts, IAM users, storage buckets and VPN tunnels.

This reduces cost, attack surface and operational clutter.

Update Documentation and Knowledge Base

Post-migration is a perfect time to document —

• New architecture diagrams
• Access and credential policies
• IP schemas, VLANs and firewall zones
• DR playbooks and failover steps
• Monitoring and escalation procedures

Make this part of your onboarding and incident response runbooks for future teams.

Establish Governance and Cost Management

You may have moved away from unpredictable hyperscaler bills, but cost control is still important in private cloud environments.

Here are the best practices we recommended —

• Define chargeback/showback models for internal teams.
• Monitor capacity utilization across compute, storage and network.
• Set quotas and alerts to prevent over-provisioning.
• Use VMware Aria Operations or third-party tools like CloudBolt to track and optimize spend.

This drives accountability and encourages efficient resource usage.

Plan for Continuous Improvement

Your private cloud is not a static platform. Build a roadmap for ongoing evolution —

• Introduce Kubernetes with VMware Tanzu for containerized workloads.
• Integrate CI/CD pipelines.
• Evaluate disaster recovery upgrades and geographic failover.
• Conduct quarterly reviews of performance, security and cost.

You’ve built the foundation. Now scale it thoughtfully.

Post-migration is where the real ROI emerges. With performance tuned, security hardened and governance in place, your private cloud can serve as a stable, strategic backbone for modern workloads.

Why Migrate from a Hyperscaler to a Private Cloud?

First thing’s first, the public cloud isn’t always the final destination.

Many organizations are now strategically shifting some or all workloads from hyperscalers back to private cloud environments built on VMware infrastructure.

The reasons go beyond cost; this shift is often about control, compliance and long-term stability. Here are the most common drivers for such a migration —

Cost Overruns and Budget Predictability

Public cloud costs can spiral unexpectedly. Sure, ingress may be free, but egress and inter-region transfers are expensive. Even reserved or spot pricing discounts require long-term planning or introduce operational risk. Moreover, organizations often over-provision resources to handle peak loads or performance variability.

With a VMware private cloud, costs are predictable; you own or lease the infrastructure. There are no egress fees. And you get dedicated resources with consistent performance and no noisy neighbors.

Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

Industries like healthcare, banking and government face strict data residency, audit logging and access control rules. Hyperscalers offer compliance certifications, but shared-responsibility models introduce complexity and limited control.

Private cloud environment, on the other hand, offers —

• Granular control over where data resides.
• Dedicated, auditable environments for sensitive data.
• Better alignment with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, IRAP and other regulations.

Operational Control and Customization

Talking from experience, public cloud services are highly abstracted. You can’t tune hypervisors or kernel parameters or run custom monitoring agents on managed services. Even controlling upgrade cycles of managed platforms (like RDS, GKE) is challenging.

In a VMware private cloud, you control the full stack, from hypervisor to guest OS. You can run custom images, hardened VMs, or appliances. You’re even free to integrate non-cloud-native tooling (for example, legacy ITSM systems, custom storage controllers).

Network Performance and Data Gravity

Running latency-sensitive workloads (for example, databases, real-time analytics, industrial control systems) in the cloud can cause —

• Latency bottlenecks over the internet.
• Dependency sprawl when systems are spread across cloud and on-prem environments.

Don’t sweat as private cloud enables —

• Low-latency, high-bandwidth connections between apps and databases.
• Colocation with existing datacenter infrastructure.
• Reduced reliance on complex cloud networking setups (VPC peering, NAT gateways and more).

Avoiding Vendor Lock-In

Building deeply on hyperscaler-specific services (for example, Lambda, DynamoDB, Azure Cosmos DB) can create proprietary dependencies. These are hard to replatform or migrate later.

VMware private clouds help you run workloads in vendor-neutral VMs, use standard tools and OSes that are portable and maintain exit strategies and workload mobility.

Stabilized or Predictable Workloads

Not all workloads need elasticity. Mature applications often reach a steady state where, usage patterns are predictable, workloads run 24/7 with fixed CPU/memory requirements and scaling is infrequent.

For these, the economics of private cloud outperform public cloud.

A VMware-based private cloud gives you the performance, security and stability to operate with confidence, without sacrificing modern cloud benefits like automation and scalability.

Summary

• This guide explained how organizations moved from hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, or GCP to a VMware-based private cloud.
• It covered the reasons behind the shift, including cost control, compliance and greater operational control.
• It outlined the steps for assessment, design and execution. Migration methods and tools such as VMware HCX were discussed, along with strategies to reduce downtime and risk.
• The guide also detailed how teams optimized, secured and managed their new environments after the migration to ensure long-term success.

Ready to Migrate?

AceCloud helps businesses seamlessly transition from AWS, Azure, or GCP to high-performance, fully managed VMware private clouds. We ensure thorough planning of workloads, dependencies and risks while thoughtfully designing a private cloud architecture that mirrors your needs.

With AceCloud, you achieve disciplined execution using proven tools and phased strategies and post-migration rigor to optimize, secure and mature the environment.

• Zero lock-in
• Pay-As-You-Go
• 99.99% uptime SLA
• Built-in networking, storage and DR
• 24/7 support from VMware-certified experts

Need help planning your VMware migration? Call us now at +91-789-789-0752 for a free consultation with our cloud experts.