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Most of the time we migrate data from one server to another one, and it works well. However, there are occasional times where the data migration does not work, and there is something going on with the data or the database. It is important to be able to migrate the schema and data between both endpoints as only a part of the whole migration process. Here are the top mistakes that occur frequently so you can be sure to avoid them for your own project.
1. Poor estimates lead to failed data migration
Migration projects will frequently fail if you do not plan properly for the time and effort required to complete it. You must develop a project plan that accounts for all the applications, people, and objects involved. A data migration project will usually call upon the involvement of a lot of different teams. There are so many different upstream and downstream systems, and the coordination alone of all the various stakeholders will take quite a bit of time. Not to mention, that your actual data migration will take time.
2. Doing too much at once can be the cause of failure
Another common cause of failure is; if the data migration teams try to do everything all at once. A key example of this is when a database migration takes place and then at the same time another team on the project runs their code changes deployments all at once. This always ends as a disaster because you cannot figure out if an issue is due to the migration, the code change, the deployment, or some other reasons involved. It is important that you run the project with the help of a great tool like Kovair QuickSync.
3. Migrating poor data is one of the reasons for failure
When you run a data migration project, it is a great opportunity to clean up your data and get rid of everything that you do not use anymore. This means; archive it properly not throwing it away or simply ignoring it. Before you migrate all your data, you need to spend a lot of time beforehand to evaluate all your data, the value of it and how much you are migrating. You should not simply transfer everything over. You must spend the necessary time to run a data quality check so that everything migrates properly.
4. Relying too much on tools adds to the migration problems
There are so many different tools that are available for data migration, but you should not make the mistake of relying too much on your tools to do everything for you. When you depend too much on them, you can fail. For example, a straightforward migration can become more complex if you find a dependent object like a trigger.
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5. No performance baselines lead migration problems
You need to have some baselines for your data performance before and after the migration. If you did not know how fast something was before, you cannot compare to how fast it is after. Without baselines, you cannot figure out for sure if there is a problem or not. This is a huge issue with cloud migration. It is important to set up your performance goals before and after the migration and to do that there should be some baselines for before and after migration.
6. No plans for a rollback can add to the problems of migration
Changes during data migration often do not get rolled back, but it is usually because there are no rollback plans. Teams are keen to keep everything moving forward and making patchwork changes instead of rolling back to an older version. Though the reality is, that in some cases you do need to take a pause and rollback because there can be a requirement of restoring the migrated data and that is why you need a rollback plan.
7. No validation testing increases the chance of failed migration
When you finish the migration process; before testing it is vital to run some validation testing. That means; running a script to check whether your database is giving you results and not errors. You can also compare the objects and row counts between both databases. Users are more likely to test for upstream and downstream, so be sure it is involved in the project plan.
Data migration failure can happen for a lot of different reasons, and sometimes it is because of the data itself. Most of the time though, it is due to human error that can be easily avoided. Kovair QuickSync helps to solve this problem. It is a one-stop Windows-based desktop solution that is cost-effective and has a wide-range data migration solution for any enterprise across the industry.
Data is valuable to every business, but it will worth nothing if you cannot work with it efficiently. With Kovair QuickSync, you can improve your data and that of your end-users.
