Data Migration Planning And Best Practices

There is concrete research conducted by Gartner which sheds light upon the fact that data migration plans, exceeding 50%, will go beyond the budget of the company and its designated timeline because of bad planning and execution, thus causing immense harm to the business.

Data migration usually takes place in the form of data extraction, transformation and loading. It basically alludes to the number of steps the data is processed through to then be extracted from the previous system, prepared well, and then loaded to its new destination. Data migration can be quite difficult for people who are not well equipped with the expertise to carry out this process, along with being costly, risky and time-consuming.

What is Data Migration?

In the process of data migration, data is moved from various types of databases, file formats, or storage infrastructure, to another. It is much more complex than just transferring data from one place to the next. Data migration includes several complicated procedures such as reformatting, as well as data mapping. It could also involve an application database upgrade with brand new hardware requiring migration data to new services. 

Let’s take a look at the main principles to keep in mind while migrating your data. Following these tips will help you devise a brilliant strategy, advert loss of data, and pull everything off without a glitch.

Choose the kind of Data for Migration

The main thing to focus on is the kind of data that you intend to migrate. These fall under the types of data migrations.

1. Cloud Migration

This type of migration includes moving your entire database to a cloud from a traditional form of hard drive that you’ve been using to store all of your applications and documents. Cloud provides a reliable storage alternative. It also includes transferring your database from one cloud to another that provides a higher level of performance and functionality.

2. Application Migration

Allocation migration includes a business transgression from a particular web hosting service or platform to a different one that includes the migration of apps and data to gain upgraded connectivity.

Database Migration

Database migration is the best option if you are finding the space on your current server limited and looking for more, or you need better database reliability and upgrade.

2. Define Your Goals

Get together with the stakeholders and review the current and potential needs of your growing business. Once you have mapped out your needs, you can begin looking for the best route to meet those needs. While accessing this, you can use a guideline of questions including, what your parameters for defining success are, or if your company can take the downtime that could inevitably occur during migration? Plus according to the plan you’ve devised, his much of your data can be successfully transferred in one go? These are the questions you should have answers to before beginning your migration.

3. Backup your data

Even in normal life, when you perform migration of data from your mobile device to your new one, you usually back everything up in case something goes awry, and then go on to perform the transfer.

Similarly, it is better to have a backup of your entire database before you start migrating your data from one place to another. Your data backup should also be happy in a backup storage infrastructure that is well tested to keep your data safe.

4. Plan a Data Migration Strategy

In case you are thinking of just winging the migration process, you might want to rethink. It is vital for smooth data migration to be done by setting clear parameters and goals while creating a strategy for data migration. It is easier to execute if your entire migration process is divided into manageable steps that you then have to just follow to migrate successfully.

It is crucial to have your entire team be familiar with your migration strategy and be on board with it. Since the pandemic won’t allow in-person meetings, so you can choose to meet via video conferences to build a strategy. 

5. Test Before Applying

Now that you have checked all of the boxes, you still have one more step to take before you can start the process of migration. Run a test on all the factors involved before you risk running your data migration process through it. While planning, decide how you will implement your strategy and then run a test migration to ensure there are no problems and that you can reach all of your goals. It is extremely time-efficient and reduces the risks of losing your data.

Conclusion

A well thought out strategy is incredibly important to migrate your database without any hiccups. If you build a comprehensive blueprint, putting it into action will be extremely easy and straightforward. You need to keep the points mentioned above in mind while devising your strategy. While data migration is the end goal, to accomplish it you need to plan properly, test various strategies and put them into action.