Single service comparison

Both services provide isolated VXLAN-backed private networks with custom CIDRs, subnets, security groups, and network ACLs, but the data model differs. AWS VPC spans subnets across Availability Zones within a single VPC, while Huawei VPC subnets are region-scoped and not bound to a specific AZ; ECS instances in different AZs share subnets through the default AZ-agnostic model. AWS exposes route tables, internet gateways, NAT gateways, VPC endpoints (PrivateLink), and peering as discrete APIs; Huawei maps these to VPC route tables, EIP, NAT Gateway, and VPC peering, with PrivateLink-style connectivity handled by separate services rather than VPC endpoints.

Transit and integration boundaries diverge. AWS couples cross-VPC and hybrid connectivity to Transit Gateway with route propagation and attachment constructs; Huawei separates this into Enterprise Router (ER) for central routing, Direct Connect for private lines, and VPN/Cloud Connection for inter-VPC or cross-region links. AWS security groups are stateful and default-deny across the VPC; Huawei security groups behave similarly, but Huawei also offers dedicated Network ACL and IP address group features as distinct layers, so policy ordering and rule precedence must be remapped rather than copied verbatim.

Operational responsibility and scaling differ. AWS VPC is free for in-VPC resources and bills NAT Gateway hours, data transfer, and PrivateLink interfaces; Huawei charges for associated EIPs, NAT Gateway, ELB, ER, and Direct Connect resource-hours plus bandwidth plans, with VPC itself not separately metered. HA expectations follow regional constructs differently: AWS fault isolation is AZ-aligned per subnet, while Huawei relies on multi-AZ ECS deployment within a VPC plus ER peering for failover, so architects must revalidate availability assumptions rather than assuming a direct AZ-to-AZ mapping.

Start with topology and dependency assessment: export AWS VPC CIDRs, subnet-to-AZ mapping, route table priorities, security group references, NAT gateway placement, and peering or Transit Gateway attachments. Map each construct to Huawei VPC plus companion services—VPC for the isolated network, EIP and NAT Gateway for egress, ER for central transit, Direct Connect or VPN for hybrid links. Because Huawei subnets are not AZ-pinned, re-evaluate any workload that assumes AZ-isolated routing or endpoint-specific split-horizon behavior before choosing the target layout.

Rebuild configuration rather than translating it. Recreate CIDR ranges avoiding overlap with planned ER or peering connections, define subnets and route tables, and convert security group rules to Huawei syntax, accounting for source/destination references and IP address groups where AWS used SG-to-SG referencing. Replace AWS VPC endpoints and PrivateLink with the closest supported Huawei connectivity pattern, and recreate Transit Gateway topology as an Enterprise Router with the required VPC attachments and route tables; validate feature-by-feature parity for control plane, data plane, and operational behavior before cutover since there is no one-click VPC migration tool.

Migrate workloads incrementally and validate in parallel. Stand up the Huawei VPC and ER topology, deploy representative ECS or container instances, and test east-west routing, NAT egress, security group enforcement, and hybrid connectivity to on-premises via Direct Connect or VPN. Use Huawei Cloud Migration Center (OMC) orImgRDS/database migration services where database and host migration are in scope, but network layer itself must be re-provisioned manually through IaC (Terraform Huawei provider or ResourceFormation) since no network-state import exists.

Rebaseline cost and operating model. AWS bills NAT Gateway hours, inter-AZ and outbound data transfer, and PrivateLink interfaces with little separate charge for the VPC itself; Huawei bills EIP, NAT Gateway, ELB, ER, and Direct Connect resource-hours plus bandwidth plans and processed traffic. Recalculate TCO using peak load, request volume, retention period, and cross-region or interconnect traffic, and confirm regional availability and quotas for ER and Direct Connect before production cutover to avoid surprises in connectivity or throughput limits.