Lift And Shift Default — GCP Professional Cloud Architect (PCA)
You defaulted to migrating as-is when the scenario called for modernization or re-architecture.
Migration Questions Hinge on One Hidden Word
'Already containerised' is the signal that eliminates Compute Engine as the migration target. The exam embeds the workload's current state in the scenario — a Dockerised app, a 12-factor service, a stateless microservice — and tests whether the architect recommends rehosting to GCE or replatforming to GKE or Cloud Run. 'Fastest migration' and 'no code changes' cue rehost; 'containerised' or 'stateless' cue replatform. Conflating speed of migration with architectural correctness is the trap.
The Scenario
The question describes a migration with explicit goals of reducing operational overhead and improving scalability. You chose the option that moves the workload with minimal changes to virtual machines. The correct answer involves re-platforming to a managed service or refactoring to take advantage of cloud-native capabilities. The migration moves the workload, but the stated goals require changing it.
How to Spot It
- •Read the migration scenario for its stated goals. If it says "minimize changes" or "fastest migration," lift-and-shift is correct. If it says "reduce overhead," "improve scalability," or "modernize," you need to change the workload, not just move it.
- •Lift-and-shift to VMs preserves: OS patching, capacity planning, scaling configuration, and backup management. If the scenario lists any of these as problems to solve, lift-and-shift does not solve them.
- •Database migration has the same spectrum: RDS (replatform from self-managed) vs. Aurora Serverless (modernize for elastic scaling) vs. DynamoDB (refactor to NoSQL). Match the target to the stated goals, not just the source database engine.
Domain Coverage
Difficulty Breakdown
Related Patterns