There comes a point when legacy solutions used to secure company data in an archive reach the end of their service life. Older archives may not reflect the needs presented by a modern market – they might be missing features that are critical to continued use of company data, or they may not reflect current eDiscovery and GDPR standards. At this point, it is time to consider migrating to a different system. Let’s do a deep dive into data migration – when, why and how you should do it.
What is data migration?
Data migration is the process by which a company transfers their data from one system or storage solution to another. There are a number of reasons a company may undergo the process, from modernizing a legacy system that no longer meets your needs, incorporating an influx of data from an external source, or simply moving to a new storage system or the Cloud.
Despite sounding simple, Data Migration is not something companies should underestimate. Studies show that 62% of data migrations are harder than expected, and 55% go over budget.
What choices do I have in migrating?
The first and most immediate choice is if to go on-premises or on-Cloud with your new system. The Cloud has been the more common recent choice because the possibility of offloading operating costs of hardware onto a third-party is extremely tempting, no matter if that hardware is simple storage space or computing power and no matter if the Cloud is a public or private environment.
At the same time, on-premises archives hold some measure of attraction due to the in-house nature, which can seem more secure and more completely under your control. Additionally, some archiving systems can function as a hybrid, with the database on the Cloud but the index and other elements kept local.
Challenges of migration
The process of data migration is not a simple one. We have covered it previously in more detail, but in short, it can be summed up with the following:
- Define migration goals
- Choose a cloud provider
- Select automation tools
- Pick the migration strategy
- Prepare a backup system
Once the process is planned out, it can be executed. Ideally speaking, the migration of your data should be given as much space as possible to ensure a lossless, minimum risk procedure. This can be handed off to a trusted partner or third party as well for an even lower degree of stress.
What’s the process for migrating?
The process of migrating data from a source system into a new destination system needs to be carefully planned; according to Gartner, 83 % of data migrations fail outright or exceed their allotted budgets – a shortcoming that can only be overcome by advance preparation.
Planning and inspection:
The first critical step is the pre-migration planning and inspection of data to be migrated. As discussed in our blog article on the subject, there are a number of potential pitfalls facing companies looking to perform an archive migration – one of the major ones being disorganized storage, imperfectly preserved organization, and incompatible data formats.
Before a migration is to take place, the data needs to be inspected and pruned so that only relevant content is migrated. Storage complications and organization are also reviewed at this point. Other things that are key to take note of is how the handover to a new system is going to occur; archiving can continue using the old system (which maintains continuity but slows down the migration process by requiring constant checks in the old storage for new content), or it can be handed over to the new system immediately.
Data backup and migration process design:
Designing the migration process requires identifying your target solution, examining your desired end state and possibilities, and adjusting the process accordingly. There are several theoretical approaches that can be taken), but in practice only a gradual segmented migration is relevant to companies given the volumes involved. In this case, it is important to segment the company into groups and decide what data has to be migrated to the new system in what order of priority. Do certain groups need access to the new system as soon as possible? Do others need to continue working with minimal disruption to their agenda? These are things to keep in mind when planning out the migration process and laying out what will be migrated when and how.
Other major considerations are questions of storage space and configuration; in the case of transferring to Office365, for example, it is only possible to restore the original email rather than a shortcut. This causes a data set that only occupied 100 MB in the source system to suddenly require 500 MB in the target. Conversely, if the data can be deduplicated either by the migrator tool or an alternative, it may end up requiring less storage space than initially. In either case, this needs to be identified and planned for beforehand.
Once orders of priority have been set, a small subsection or a set of test data should be migrated to ensure the process and chosen tools are working as intended. If so, this test data can be discarded and the true migration performed. Before any substantial changes are made or steps taken, the existing data is backed up and preserved.
Migration process and validation:
Based on previously stated priorities, data is segmented and bookmarked. Then, ideally using a migrator tool, the data begins being transferred by segment. The migrator uses bookmarks to avoid transferring already migrated information. Depending on the tool in question, the target system and the user settings, migrated data may become available in the target system immediately or not.
Once the final segments of data have been transferred, the main portion of the migration process is complete. Now, in the case of your original solution not having been frozen, a final migration can be performed targeting any changed files – for example, emails entered into the source archive after migration had begun. Once these differences are accounted for, the process is over.
What follows is the so-called “validation” process. The data in the target system is compared either with the version in the original source system, or with the backed-up copy. The role of validation is to ascertain that the process has concluded successfully, with no errors occurring throughout.
Decommission
After the validation concludes, the old system can be shut down and decommissioned to avoid incurring further operating costs or licensing fees, depending on the desired end-state of your migration process.
This is not a necessary step, and there may be situations where portions of the legacy system or even the solution in its entirety is left active to some degree.
Migrate with TECH-ARROW
For organizations looking to make a change and ensure they have taken the best route possible, TECH-ARROW can offer our contentGATE migrator. With over twenty years of experience, over 700 enterprise clients and over a billion migrated files, we offer our expertise to ensure your migration comes off without a hitch. From the first proof of concept until the final verification, our team is with you every step of the way!
Additionally, TECH-ARROW offers unparalleled flexibility for clients. Both our contentACCESS Cloud Archive and contentACCESS Backup for Microsoft 365 offer the possibility of being set up either on our Cloud, a separate Cloud provider (including all major players like Azure), or on a private environment depending on client needs.
Interested in learning more? Contact us! Our team of experts is ready and waiting to discuss your business’ needs and how TECH-ARROW can best meet them.
Your Data In Your Hands – With TECH-ARROW
