The legacy of the last seventy years is the digital revolution. Every day, information technologies expanded in capability, shrank in size, and became increasingly integrated into the daily lives of an increasing number of people. Organizations all across the world have abandoned paper records and filing cabinets in favour of sophisticated information systems for data storage and business operations. The organisation uses these platforms to access member data, events, programmes, donations, reporting data, and other information critical to the organization’s operations. As a result, employees deal with these systems on a regular basis.
Each system is designed on a distinct foundation and has varied capabilities, and these businesses will inevitably have to migrate from an old system to a new one. There are numerous reasons why a company would opt to go through these migrations. As an organisation grows and expands, its needs change, which might result in an existing system no longer fulfilling those demands and no adjustment to the existing system accommodating them. Furthermore, the organization’s financial situation may alter due to a drop in available funds, a slump in business, or simply a shift in the value proposition where new technology might give more and better services for a similar or lower price.
Database Migration: Definition and Concept
Data migration is the process of transferring data from one or more source platforms to another target database. There are various reasons why you would want to switch from one database to another. For example, a company may desire to save money by migrating to a cloud-based database. Similarly, another corporation may relocate because they discover a certain database that meets their specific business requirements. As a result, it is critical to have an effective database migration plan in place to avoid problems throughout the data migration process.
Database migration challenges:
For many years, database migration has been a regular procedure. However, due to the complexity of its data migration stages, it still necessitates careful study. Some of the major issues that businesses face while moving their data include:
Data Loss: The most prevalent issue organisations confront during DB migration is data loss. Testing for data loss or corruption during the planning stage is critical to determining whether or not complete data was migrated during the migration process.
Data Security: A company’s most precious asset is its data. As a result, its protection is critical. Data encryption should be a major priority before beginning the DB migration procedure.
Difficulty during planning: Large firms typically have distinct datasets in many areas. Locating these databases and determining how to convert all schemas and normalise data is a common difficulty during the planning stage of database migration.
Strategy for migration: A frequently asked question is how to migrate a database. Companies overlook critical variables and employ a database migration plan that is inappropriate for their business. As a result, extensive investigation is required prior to DB transfer.
Why is Database Migration required?
Organisations have several clear reasons to adopt new technology in today’s competitive market. These include factors like working faster, improving overall performance, and so on. Now that you understand what database migration is, it’s time to learn why you should do it. Let’s take a closer look at them.
To save expenses: Using obsolete databases may increase the company’s overhead costs. As an example, installing other programmes or systems to work quickly. They will migrate their database to a platform that will better serve their needs. This will save money on infrastructure as well as the labour and skills required to support it.
Also Read | Cloud migration: Advantages and challenges
Transition to new technology: This is a relatively common reason for migration, in which the organisation switches from an obsolete or legacy system to one built for modern data demands.
To cut down on redundancy: Data migration is crucial for businesses in order to shift all company data to a single location. This will aid in the reduction of unnecessary data. Furthermore, data saved in one location is easily accessible to various divisions of the firm.
How to select the most effective migration tool
The tools for managing migrations may be strongly suggested by the codebase language, development framework, or database backend you are using. Many web frameworks, for example, include their own migration systems for managing the schema of their backing databases, which are not always hard requirements. These are frequently well-integrated with the framework’s other tooling and can help reduce the friction of managing database changes as a separate process.
Another factor that may influence your choice is the level of maturity and the amount of support provided for a given tool. As previously stated, the migration files generated by various tools are not always directly compatible with one another, even if they can be used directly as pure SQL. Choosing a stable option can help you avoid situations in which a tool becomes obsolete and is no longer maintained, forcing you to change your migration process in the middle of development.
Database Migration Systems: The way forward
Cloud migration: According to a report, by the end of 2022, 75 per cent of databases will be migrated to the cloud. Cloud database management systems can store data in any of the cloud storage tiers using various data models, such as relational, non-relational, and others. Many firms provided remote working options throughout the epidemic, and cloud-based solutions enabled employees to access work-related datasets at any time and from any location.
Increased data security: With the recent rise of cyber risks and data breaches, database management systems, particularly those in the cloud, have placed an even higher focus on data protection.
Open-source cloud computing: Because they are hesitant to pay licence fees, most enterprises are looking for open-source cloud database management systems. They are, nevertheless, willing to pay for the services and support. A portable front-end API is also provided by open-source cloud systems.
Database migration can help you multiply and enhance your business operations. To innovate and amplify your business practices, click here.
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