What is Azure Resource Mover?
Azure Resource Mover is a service for moving Azure resources between Azure regions. It provides a central hub for selecting resources, resolving their dependencies, and carrying out the migration through a controlled workflow.
Resource Mover analyzes dependencies between resources (for example, a VM requiring a virtual network, NICs, and disks) and lets you either move the dependent resources along with it or use existing, equivalent resources already in the target region instead. Currently supported resources include Azure VMs and associated disks (with and without encryption; Azure Spot VMs are not supported), NICs, availability sets, virtual networks, public IP addresses (the IP address itself is not retained across the region change), network security groups, internal and public load balancers, and Azure SQL databases and elastic pools. Unsupported resource types must be migrated manually.
The migration workflow includes validation, preparation, move initiation, and a final commit or discard after reviewing the result. After a successful move, source resources can be automatically cleaned up or retained.
Core Features
Central migration hub: A unified workflow for migrating different resource types between regions.
Dependency analysis: Automatic detection of dependencies between resources so related resources can be migrated together.
Testable move process: An initial move can be reviewed before the final commit and discarded if needed.
Automatic cleanup: Optional automatic deletion of source resources after a successful migration.
Typical Use Cases
Aligning with data residency requirements: Enterprises move resources to regions that meet their compliance or data residency requirements.
Using new regions or features: Migration to newly introduced Azure regions or to regions that offer certain services or features first.
Responding to business changes: Moving resources as part of mergers, acquisitions, or the realignment of business locations.
Region decommissioning: Migrating resources when an Azure region is being deprecated or should no longer be used.
Benefits
- Central hub for cross-region migrations instead of manual, piecemeal steps
- Automatic dependency detection reduces the risk of incomplete migrations
- Test mode allows reviewing a move before the final commit
- Support for common core resources such as VMs, networks, and SQL databases
Frequently Asked Questions about Azure Resource Mover
What is Azure Resource Mover?
Azure Resource Mover is an Azure service that orchestrates the migration of resources such as VMs, virtual networks, or SQL databases between Azure regions, including dependency resolution.
Which resources are supported?
Supported resources include Azure VMs with associated disks, NICs, availability sets, virtual networks, public IPs, network security groups, load balancers, and Azure SQL databases and elastic pools. Not all resource types are supported; these require manual migration procedures.
Is there downtime during migration?
The impact depends on the resource type. VM migrations typically require a temporary stop; the exact process and possible downtime for each resource type are described in the official documentation.
What does Resource Mover cost?
The service itself does not incur direct usage costs. However, costs apply for resources used during migration (e.g., temporary copies) and for resources in the target region after the move.
Can I move between subscriptions?
Resource Mover is designed for region-to-region migrations. For moves between subscriptions or resource groups without a region change, use the “Move resources” feature in the portal or the az resource move command.
How are dependencies handled?
Resource Mover automatically analyzes dependencies between resources and groups them for combined migration. For dependencies, you can choose whether to move them along or replace them with existing resources already in the target region.
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.
Typical Use Cases
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of Azure (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by Azure.
