What is a Database Migration?

An article by Jorge Reis    Comments Off

The internet is a fast-paced world. In a place where there are literally hundreds of other competitors, you need to keep yourself updated. To be able to do this, you need to go hand in hand with the development of technology. There’s always a new version around the corner, so it’s important to keep your system updated to keep with everybody else. Whether you are a web owner, an online merchant or an e-mogul, it’s important to keep your database updated.

Database Migration

Database migration is the key in upgrading to new systems. It’s also done when an organization merges or is taken over by another. Migration is transferring and rewriting data from an old medium to the current one. This is usually done to preserve digital objects for a long time, such as reproducing newspapers into microfilm. This is also done to preserve data¸ at the same time, maintain the database.

Database migration, as its name suggests, is basically upgrading your system from an old version to a new one. It is also done to transfer data to a different and more efficient system. The data is transferred between computer systems and requires different phases – design, extraction, cleaning, loading, and verification. The data is mapped from the old system to the new. This creates a design for reading the data from the old system and writing it to the new one. The format of the old data is also related to the new system. Cleaning is done to remove obsolete information and to make sure that the data matches the new system’s requirements. After the data is loaded to the new system, it is then verified to make sure that the process was done successfully. The data should be translated accurately and completely and should support the new system’s processes.

Pros and Cons of Database Migration

Data migration is important to maintain a database, but there are also disadvantages. Technologies used to run the data may have become obsolete, which renders the migration useless. It is also time consuming and costly since migration has to be done regularly because technology changes from time to time. Plus, additional storage is also needed for every migration.

But migration is still important to maintain a database and can be efficient when done properly. More often than not, changes incorporated in the migration process are lumped together, which creates risks. The migration process should be done in steps and tested before being implemented. There are articles online which can help web owners to in migrating from old to new versions.

Due to the disadvantages of migration, alternatives such as emulation are now being developed by IT professionals. It’s the ability of a program to imitate another one. The program is called an emulator, which copies the functions of another program. But this technology is still being developed and database migration is still the key process in upgrading databases. Although the process has its setbacks, it can become a very efficient way of importing from the old to exporting to the new if done properly.