Overview

Migrating data from Azure Blob Storage to Amazon S3 is common for organizations adopting a multi-cloud strategy or transitioning to AWS. This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the migration process using Cloney.

Migration Benefits

AWS S3 offers extensive service integrations, mature tooling ecosystem, and broad global availability across regions.

Prerequisites

  • A Cloney account with an active subscription
  • Azure Blob Storage container with data to migrate
  • AWS S3 bucket (destination)
  • Appropriate credentials for both services

Setup Access Credentials

Before proceeding, ensure you have configured least privilege access for both services:

Azure: Least Privilege Access SetupAWS S3: Least Privilege Access Setup

Step 1: Add Your Azure Source

  1. Log in to your Cloney dashboard
  2. Navigate to Jobs → Create New Job
  3. Select Azure Blob Storage as your source provider
  4. Enter your Azure credentials:
    • Storage Account Name: Your Azure storage account name
    • Access Key: The storage account access key (or SAS token)
    • Container Name: The name of your source container
  5. Click Validate Connection to verify access

Step 2: Configure Your AWS S3 Destination

  1. Select AWS S3 as your destination provider
  2. Enter your AWS credentials:
    • Access Key ID: Your IAM user access key
    • Secret Access Key: Your IAM user secret key
    • Region: The AWS region for your destination bucket
    • Bucket Name: The name of your destination S3 bucket
  3. Click Validate Connection to verify access

Step 3: Configure Migration Options

Customize your migration with these options:

OptionDescriptionRecommendation
Prefix/Path FilterMigrate only blobs matching a specific prefixUse for partial migrations
Preserve MetadataCopy blob metadata along with dataEnable for full fidelity
Storage ClassSet the S3 storage class for migrated objectsStandard for frequent access
Overwrite ExistingReplace objects that already exist in destinationEnable for sync operations

Step 4: Start the Migration

  1. Review your migration configuration
  2. Click Start Migration
  3. Monitor progress in the Jobs dashboard
Migration Complete

Once finished, verify your data in the AWS S3 console and update your applications to use the new bucket.

Storage Tier Mapping

Azure access tiers map to AWS S3 storage classes as follows:

Azure TierRecommended S3 Class
HotS3 Standard
CoolS3 Standard-IA
ColdS3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
ArchiveS3 Glacier Deep Archive

Best Practices

  • Test with a subset first: Run a pilot migration with a small subset of data to validate your configuration.
  • Choose the right S3 region: Select an AWS region close to your users or other AWS resources.
  • Enable versioning: Consider enabling S3 versioning for additional data protection.
  • Keep source data temporarily: Don't delete your Azure data immediately; retain it until you've fully validated the migration.