Data Migration

A common misconception about data migration is that it is merely a transfer of data from one place to other place; however, the fact is that it is more than this and actually involves the translation of data from one format to another format. Additionally, a data migration can also include transfer from one storage device to another storage device in such a situation it requires someone or something to help in the process as data migration or transfer does not happen on own.

The requirement of data migration comes up when some company upgrades its database or system software. The up gradation can be either from one version to another or from one program to a totally different program. Moreover, before any data migration IT professional uses entire programs or just scripts to write down software so that data migration can be done. Data migration can also be a part of company’s up gradation policy and program.

Data migration is done for security of data. Storing the data which has little use as backup can help the company and employees in case some data crash happens and valuable data lost. Moreover, data storage is important for historical purposes or for periodic access and the same can be done only through data migration. The data can be stored in various forms including of saving the data in CDs or DVDs or external hard disc.

Stored data is put in achieve which can be accessed through networking. Though the transfer of data from one format to other or from one place to other is done offline, it can be made available through intranet. A procedural approach is taken for data migration wherein four steps are crucial. The first step is to do analysis of source data. Then extraction and transformation of data is done which is followed by validation and repair of data and concludes to the use of data in the new program.

Storage migration, Database migration, Application migration, Business process migration, Project versus Process, etc. are some fundamental kinds of data migration. As has been mentioned, data migration takes place in three phases; the data migration software performs the necessary machinations in the whole process of data migration. Validation and repair is considered the most sensitive phase in the whole process of data migration.

In third phase of data migration called validation and repair, the data is evaluated for potential problems before it is delivered to the user. However, irresolvable problems or issue can be marked at this stage so that the same can be cured at the crucial point of data transfer. Additionally, in order to get an effective data migration procedure at the place, mapping of the data on the old system is done. The whole process is mapped to the new system providing a design for data extraction and data loading.

Data migration can be disastrous at a time when certain technologies which run the data may be abandoned altogether. The result could be useless data migration. Similarly, the design related to the old data formats to the new should be matching so that there is no anomaly. In the data migration of programming data extraction where data is read and transferred from the old system to new and data loading where data is written to the new system is done in effective manner.