Basic information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| English / full name | VM Import/Export |
| Chinese | 虚拟机镜像导入与导出 |
| Japanese | 仮想マシンイメージのインポート／エクスポート |
| Review priority | 考试频率 ⭐⭐ |
| Often confused with | AWS Transform MGN / VMware Cloud on AWS |
In one sentence
Imports eligible VM images to create EC2 images or instances and exports eligible AWS images for external use.
Core summary
Prepare an image, upload it to S3, configure the service role, and start an import. Networking, IAM, licensing, and application dependencies remain separate work.
Study points
- Fits a small number of VMs with an offline window.
- Use MGN for continuous block replication and low-downtime migration.
- Use VMware Cloud on AWS when preserving the VMware operating model.
- An import creates native EC2 resources but does not continuously sync source changes.
Common pitfalls
- Not every Marketplace AMI, encrypted image, or license is exportable.
- Files stored in S3 can still require completely different restore mechanisms.
Key memory
VM Import/Export moves images; MGN continuously moves servers; VMware Cloud preserves the VMware model.