# Ingest and migrate EC2 Windows instances into an AWS Managed Services account
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account"></a>

*Anil Kunapareddy and Venkatramana Chintha, Amazon Web Services*

## Summary
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-summary"></a>

This pattern explains the step-by-step process of migrating and ingesting Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Windows instances into an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Services (AMS) account. AMS can help you manage the instance more efficiently and securely. AMS provides operational flexibility, enhances security and compliance, and helps you optimize capacity and reduce costs.

This pattern starts with an EC2 Windows instance that you have migrated to a staging subnet in your AMS account. A variety of migration services and tools are available to perform this task, such as AWS Application Migration Service.

To make a change to your AMS-managed environment, you create and submit a request for change (RFC) for a particular operation or action. Using an AMS workload ingest (WIGS) RFC, you ingest the instance into the AMS account and create a custom Amazon Machine Image (AMI). You then create the AMS-managed EC2 instance by submitting another RFC to create an EC2 stack. For more information, see [AMS Workload Ingest](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ams-workload-ingest.html) in the AMS documentation.

## Prerequisites and limitations
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-prereqs"></a>

**Prerequisites**
+ An active, AMS-managed AWS account
+ An existing landing zone
+ Permissions to make changes in the AMS-managed VPC
+ An Amazon EC2 Windows instance in a staging subnet in your AMS account
+ Completion of the [general prerequisites](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ex-migrate-instance-prereqs.html) for migrating workloads using AMS WIGS
+ Completion of the [Windows prerequisites](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ex-migrate-prereqs-win.html) for migrating workloads using AMS WIGS

**Limitations**
+ This pattern is for EC2 instances operating Windows Server. This pattern doesn’t apply to instances running other operating systems, such as Linux.

## Architecture
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-architecture"></a>

**Source technology stack**

Amazon EC2 Windows instance in a staging subnet in your AMS account

**Target technology stack**

Amazon EC2 Windows instance managed by AWS Managed Services (AMS)

**Target architecture**

![\[Process to migrate and ingest Amazon EC2 Windows instances into an AWS Managed Services account.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/images/pattern-img/393c21cb-b6c6-4446-b597-b62e29fdb7f8/images/0b2fa855-7460-49f8-9e7f-3485e6ce1745.png)


## Tools
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-tools"></a>

**AWS services**
+ [Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/concepts.html) provides scalable computing capacity in the AWS Cloud. You can use Amazon EC2 to launch as many or as few virtual servers as you need, and you can scale out or scale in.
+ [AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/introduction.html) helps you securely manage access to your AWS resources by controlling who is authenticated and authorized to use them.
+ [AWS Managed Services (AMS)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/?id=docs_gateway) helps you operate more efficiently and securely by providing ongoing management of your AWS infrastructure, including monitoring, incident management, security guidance, patch support, and backup for AWS workloads.

**Other services**
+ [PowerShell](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/) is a Microsoft automation and configuration management program that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

## Epics
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-epics"></a>

### Configure settings on the instance
<a name="configure-settings-on-the-instance"></a>


| Task | Description | Skills required | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| Change the DNS Client settings. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 
| Change the Windows Update settings. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 
| Enable the firewall. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 

### Prepare the instance for AMS WIGS
<a name="prepare-the-instance-for-ams-wigs"></a>


| Task | Description | Skills required | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| Clean up and prepare the instance. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 
| Repair the sppnp.dll file. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 
| Run the pre-WIG validation script. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 
| Create the failsafe AMI. | After the pre-WIG validation passes, create a pre-ingestion AMI as follows:[\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html)For more information, see [AMI \$1 Create](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/ctref/deployment-advanced-ami-create.html) in the AMS documentation. | Migration engineer | 

### Ingest and validate the instance
<a name="ingest-and-validate-the-instance"></a>


| Task | Description | Skills required | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| Submit the RFC to create the workload ingest stack. | Submit a request for change (RFC) to start the AMS WIGS. For instructions, see [Workload Ingest Stack: Creating](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ex-workload-ingest-col.html) in the AMS documentation. This starts the workload ingestion and installs all the software required by AMS, including backup tools, Amazon EC2 management software, and antivirus software. | Migration engineer | 
| Validate successful migration. | After the workload ingestion is complete, you can see the AMS-managed instance and AMS-ingested AMI.[\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 

### Launch the instance in the target AMS account
<a name="launch-the-instance-in-the-target-ams-account"></a>


| Task | Description | Skills required | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| Submit the RFC to create an EC2 stack. | [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account.html) | Migration engineer | 

## Related resources
<a name="ingest-and-migrate-ec2-windows-instances-into-an-aws-managed-services-account-resources"></a>

**AWS Prescriptive Guidance**
+ [Automate pre-workload ingestion activities for AWS Managed Services on Windows](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/automate-pre-workload-ingestion-activities-for-aws-managed-services-on-windows.html)
+ [Automatically create an RFC in AMS using Python](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/patterns/automatically-create-an-rfc-in-ams-using-python.html?did=pg_card&trk=pg_card)

**AMS documentation**
+ [AMS Workload Ingest](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ams-workload-ingest.html)
+ [How Migration Changes Your Resource](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/ex-migrate-changes.html)
+ [Migrating Workloads: Standard Process](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/mp-migrate-stack-process.html)

**Marketing resources**
+ [AWS Managed Services](https://aws.amazon.com/managed-services/)
+ [AWS Managed Services FAQs](https://aws.amazon.com/managed-services/faqs/)
+ [AWS Managed Services Resources](https://aws.amazon.com/managed-services/resources/)
+ [AWS Managed Services Features](https://aws.amazon.com/managed-services/features/)