AWS Application Discovery Service

A service that collects configuration, utilization, and dependency data from on-premises servers and virtual machines to support migration planning. It operates using agent-based collectors or agentless connectors to gather inventory and performance information and exposes APIs and console views for analysis. It normally fits in the migration planning phase and is used to feed tools such as AWS Migration Hub and migration services.

🗂 Resource Category

Migration and Transfer • Management and Governance

🧠 Exam Memory Hook

Think: "On-prem inventory + dependency mapping for migration planning = AWS Application Discovery Service"

📖 Ownership

Classification: Shared Responsibility Service

AWS responsibilities: AWS operates and maintains the discovery service control plane, APIs, console, storage of collected data in the service, and the underlying AWS infrastructure and networking; AWS secures the service platform and applies patches to the managed service components and underlying physical infrastructure. AWS provides the official agent and connector distribution channels and documents integration points with other AWS migration services. AWS does not operate or patch customer on-premises servers or customer-managed discovery collectors deployed outside AWS.

Customer responsibilities: The customer deploys and configures discovery agents or agentless collectors, grants required IAM permissions and network connectivity, configures data collection settings, and manages the lifecycle of any customer-hosted collectors; the customer secures agent credentials, monitors collected data quality, exports or integrates discovery output into migration planning tools, and enforces any data retention or privacy controls. The customer is responsible for operational tasks for on-premises components including installation, upgrades, and troubleshooting of agents or appliances.

Patching responsibilities: AWS patches and maintains the service platform, service APIs, and the underlying physical infrastructure and hypervisor. The customer patches and maintains guest operating systems, application runtimes, libraries, and any customer-deployed discovery agents or collector appliances; if the customer uses AWS-provided agent packages, the customer remains responsible for installing agent updates and applying patches to those agent installations on their hosts. Patching of customer applications and on-premises infrastructure is the customer's responsibility.

🏗 Typical Architecture

💡 Top 5 Features

Agent-based data collection of server inventory, resource utilization, and performance counters.
Agentless discovery via collectors or connectors where agent installation is not possible.
Application dependency mapping that captures network connections between discovered hosts to support cutover planning.
APIs and console access to query, filter, and export discovered inventory for migration assessment.
Integration points to feed discovered data into AWS Migration Hub and exportable artifacts for migration tools.

✅ Top 5 Use Cases

Collecting on-premises server inventory and utilization metrics to create a migration sizing plan for AWS.
Mapping application dependencies to define migration waves and prioritize cutover sequencing.
Generating an up-to-date asset inventory to support licensing, compliance, or decommission planning prior to migration.
Profiling server CPU, memory, and I/O usage to choose appropriate target instance families and storage types in AWS.
Feeding discovery data into migration orchestration tools and migration status tracking in AWS Migration Hub.

🏗 Architecture Placement

Placed in the migration planning tier, the service receives data from on-premises discovery agents or agentless collectors and provides data to migration tracking and migration services; it normally connects to AWS Migration Hub and can export artifacts to storage such as Amazon S3. It is an account-level service that stores discovery data in the chosen AWS region and is invoked via API or console. Network access from on-premises hosts to AWS endpoints and appropriate IAM permissions are required.

🎯 Commonly Used With

- AWS Migration Hub
- AWS Database Migration Service
- AWS Application Migration Service
- Amazon S3
- AWS Identity and Access Management

🌍 5 Real-World Examples

A bank uses agents to collect server inventory and dependency maps to group applications into migration waves, improving planning accuracy for a data center exit.
A healthcare provider profiles on-premises servers to obtain utilization metrics used to right-size target EC2 instance families before migrating patient management systems.
A retail company exports discovered inventory to Amazon S3 and imports it into migration tools to coordinate database and application migrations during a seasonal low period.
A telecommunications operator maps network dependencies across server clusters to sequence cutovers and reduce the risk of service interruption during migration.
A government agency collects an asset inventory to identify legacy servers for decommissioning and to document configuration for compliance during cloud migration.

🎓 AWS Exam Clues

Use when you need agent-based or agentless on-premises inventory and dependency data for migration planning.
Relevant when migration planning requires CPU, memory, and I/O utilization metrics to right-size AWS targets.
Choose when you must produce dependency maps to define migration waves and minimize cross-host cutover issues.
Integrates with AWS Migration Hub for migration tracking rather than performing migrations itself.
Requires deployment and management of agents or collectors and appropriate IAM and network configuration.

📝 Quick Revision

Service that collects on-premises inventory, performance, and dependency data to support migration planning and tracking. Use when you need agent or connector-based discovery for right-sizing and dependency mapping; plan for agent deployment, network access, data export, and integration with AWS Migration Hub.

🏷 Keywords

Application Discovery • Agent-based discovery • Agentless discovery • Dependency mapping • Inventory collection • Performance profiling • Migration planning • AWS Migration Hub integration • Data export • Discovery connector • Server right-sizing • Migration wave planning