In cloud terms, what does it mean to 'rehost' an application?

Rehosting an application, commonly referred to as "lift and shift," involves migrating the application to the cloud environment with minimal modifications to the original architecture or code. This approach allows for a faster deployment as it doesn’t require extensive redesign or rebuilding processes. The application is essentially placed into a cloud infrastructure while maintaining its current form and functionality. This strategy is often favored as it provides immediate benefits of cloud infrastructure, such as scalability, without the delays that come with more complex configurations.

In contrast, rebuilding the application from scratch or enhancing it for cloud features would require significant changes to the functionality or architecture, which is not the focus of rehosting. Likewise, removing legacy components is not part of the rehosting process since that entails a deeper integration and potentially significant alteration of the application itself. Therefore, transferring the application to the cloud with minimal changes accurately captures the essence of what rehosting entails.