AWS lock-in assessment¶

Lock-in risks¶

• Proprietary databases:

  • Aurora (PostgreSQL/MySQL-compatible but with AWS extensions)

  • DynamoDB (NoSQL with unique API)

  • Redshift (custom data warehouse format)

• Serverless & Compute:

  • Lambda (AWS-specific event triggers, runtime environments)

  • Fargate (proprietary container orchestration)

• Storage & Networking:

  • S3 (API is standard, but egress costs apply)

  • EBS snapshots (AWS-specific format)

  • VPC (AWS-only networking constructs)

• Management & IaC:

  • CloudFormation (not portable to other clouds)

  • AWS IAM (custom policy language)

How to check for lock-in¶

1. Inventory: Use AWS Trusted Advisor or AWS Migration Hub to list dependencies.

2. Cost Analysis: Check AWS Cost Explorer for egress fees ($0.09/GB for inter-region).

3. API Audit: Scan code for AWS SDK calls (e.g., boto3, aws-sdk).

Mitigation strategies¶

• Use Terraform instead of CloudFormation.

• Migrate Aurora → PostgreSQL RDS (more portable).

• Replace Lambda with containers (ECS/EKS) for easier migration.