#testing data migration

Businesses have resorted to digital transformation in a big way to stay competitive, increase productivity, reduce the cost of operations, and improve the security of data and information. Also, the changing dynamics of business has led to mergers and acquisitions, which besides being an integral facet of digital transformation has necessitated the transfer of data and information - from the legacy systems to the new age systems, notably the cloud. However, the endeavour of organizations to deliver data and information in the right format and to the right set of people has made migration testing a necessity.

The process of migration is not always smooth and consists of many challenges. Unless these challenges are met head on with careful planning and by implementing best practices, they can create hurdles in the smooth migration of systems, applications, and databases.

Migration challenges

1. Workloads: Not every workload is designed to work or stored in the same way. Some can be tailormade to work on a cloud platform whereas others might work seamlessly on-premise or in a hybrid system. The migration testing approach should take these into account while validating the strategy.

2. Applications: Like systems, applications are critical to your business as well. The migration testing strategy should take into account the nature of dependencies of these applications and the risks involved. The strategy should assess the support needed for such applications to function effectively post migration. The focus of the migration team should also be geared towards conducting user acceptance and performance testing exercises.

3. Data migration: While migrating data to other systems, care should be taken to ensure their security and integrity. The data migration testing exercise should monitor and manage the databases based on the order they are needed by the systems or applications to function. As far as ensuring the security and integrity of data are concerned, the migration process should strictly adhere to the security protocols and regulations.

Once the above mentioned challenges are mitigated, then the crucial task of initiating a data center migration should be undertaken. At the outset, the allotted budget should be revisited to assess the cost of manpower or the required real estate to carry out migration. Migrating your data center can be an onerous exercise, which through proper planning and implementing best practices can be done smoothly. Let us find out how in five effective ways the testing of data migration can be achieved.

#1 Scope of migration: Carry out an assessment of the systems and applications that are to be migrated. Create a list of items to be migrated either to the cloud or to the new IT environment. It is not necessary to move each and every bit and piece of your IT architecture but only the crucial ones that are needed by your organization to function seamlessly. Also, take into account the criticality of downtime in the entire scheme of things.

#2 Transportation of systems: The migration exercise might involve replacing your ageing legacy systems with the new ones or transporting them to a new location. Your migration testing approach should assess the stability of the IT platforms to ensure they do not malfunction post transportation. It would be a good idea to keep a new system in place should something go wrong during migration.

#3 Know your data: Analyse the criticality of your databases and ascertain how they can impact the overall IT operations. List the order of databases to be migrated and ensure their security and integrity. This is arguably the most critical part of migration, as any loss or manipulation of data during migration can have dire consequences for the organization.

#4 Establish your network: If your IT architecture is to be moved to the cloud then the robust functioning of your IT network is of primary importance. The cloud migration testing should validate the communication of the network at the new location. Merely transplanting your existing network to the new location might not suffice. The network configuration at the new location should be redrawn to ensure its effective functioning.

#5 Engage your stakeholders: It is better to engage third party services in your migration exercise. The testing exercise should find out if the existing resources are capable enough to carry out the job. Involve the third parties in setting up your migration strategy and keep them updated on the timelines.

Conclusion

The migration of your IT infrastructure is a painstaking process and requires thorough planning and execution. This is where a suitable migration testing strategy can be of help in removing the bottlenecks, streamlining processes, and prioritizing activities. It can preempt your organization from any unforeseen trouble.