Azure Resource Mover on Microsoft Azure
What is Azure Resource Mover?
Azure Resource Mover is a free service for moving Azure resources between regions. The service orchestrates the migration, validates dependencies, and performs the move with minimal downtime.
Resource Mover supports VMs, SQL Databases, Virtual Networks, and many other resource types. The service analyzes resource dependencies (e.g., VM requires VNet, Disk, NIC) and migrates related resources as a group.
The migration workflow includes validation, preparation, move initiation, and commit/discard after verification. Source resources can be deleted or retained after successful migration.
Typical Use Cases
Region migration for compliance: Companies must keep data in EU regions. Resource Mover moves VMs and databases from US to EU data centers.
Disaster recovery setup: Building standby environments in a secondary region. Initial copy of production environment as a basis for DR.
Latency optimization: Moving resources closer to end users. Migration to regions with lower latency for better performance.
Cost optimization: Some Azure regions have lower prices. Migration to cheaper regions to reduce costs.
Frequently Asked Questions about Azure Resource Mover
Which resources are supported?
VMs (including disks), SQL Database, Virtual Networks, Network Security Groups, Public IPs, Load Balancers, and many more. Not all resource types are supported. List available in documentation.
Is there downtime during migration?
VM migrations require temporary stopping. SQL Database can be migrated with minimal downtime (seconds). Exact impact depends on resource type.
What does Resource Mover cost?
The service itself is free. You pay for temporary resources during migration (e.g., snapshots, temporary VMs) and for resources in the target region after migration.
Can I move between subscriptions?
Resource Mover focuses on region-to-region moves. For subscription-to-subscription moves, use “Move resources” in the portal or Azure CLI az resource move.
How are dependencies handled?
Resource Mover automatically analyzes dependencies (VM → VNet → Subnet → NSG). Dependent resources are grouped as a Move Collection and migrated together.
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you in planning and executing Azure migrations. We help with migration strategy, downtime minimization, and post-migration validation.
Contact us for a non-binding consultation on Azure Resource Mover and cloud migration.
