Migrating to Office 365 entails more than simply transferring all of your data to a cloud server: it’s a completely new browser-based environment linked to your company’s Microsoft 365 account. While this offers many new features and capabilities, it also has an impact on every aspect of file use, and collaborative task and effort that relies on direct access to a network file.
SharePoint Online is a cloud-based file storage and collaboration platform that allows users to share, manage and collaborate on documents in real-time. SharePoint Online differs from an on-premises file server in that it saves your files in the Microsoft cloud, whereas a file server normally stores them on your onsite network or in an offsite data center for enhanced protection.
How to Migrate from File Server to SharePoint Online?
Steps to Migrate File Server to SharePoint Online are given below-
Step 1: Do Your Homework First
Yes, there is an appeal to just pushing the Migrate button and informing your employer that you’ve done it, but one can’t migrate content without considering the information architecture, among other things. We couldn’t possibly express all that needed to be accomplished in a single paragraph. We have written a great deal about this in the past. At a high level, one must ensure that there is an understanding of how the envisioned SharePoint Information Architecture will function. Lastly, the sites, document libraries, and metadata need to be realized and surfaced for end-user utilization.
Step 2: Select and Configure a Migration Tool
There is a range of commercial 3rd party tools available for content migration. Selection of the appropriate tool depends on the content source, the volume of content, permissions needs, reporting needs, metadata tagging requirements, and budget. Reality Tech can provide strategic guidance to ensure the right tool is selected.
There is then the server sizing and configuration and license management of the migration tool.
Step 3: Perform Your Test Migration
The initial test migration enables one to baseline throughput. With this information, the actual migration of these metrics is key and reflects both the existing network throughput as well as Office 365 SharePoint throughput.
The migration process should always begin with a test migration, as a sanity test on the network, latencies, tools, environment, configuration, throughput, and end-user experience.
The primary risk of the migration is Office 365 throttling. This occurs in both reading from the source and writing to the destination. To some extent, this can be optimized by extended efforts, especially during off-peak hours.
Step 4: Plan the Migration
If the volume of content exceeds the throughput that can be migrated in a single weekend as determined during baseline migration testing, then migration in phases is recommended. Migration in phases allows content map creation, which ensures that each team understands the content transformation as it migrates from the source file server to the new SharePoint environment. The process of migrating a single group of content as a discrete phase is not only manageable but also reduces the limitations for larger migrations and reduces the number of users impacted on any given weekend cutover.
The following activities are part of the migration planning process:
A. Inventory
In order to migrate, we need to identify what will be migrated, and what will be left in place or archived and not migrated. This leads then to the design of mapping, from source to proposed destination.
B. Long URL analysis
Efforts to the surface where long URLs may be an obstacle. Approaches to remediate and address found instances. These may include proposed hierarchy flattening, or shortening/renaming key folder nodes.
C. Orphan Accounts
Review of handling of accounts that are inactive. Disabled accounts are a known challenge for migration on tagging documents during migration. This will require some discussion and review of options and setting expectations.
D. Exception Planning
Planning for an approach to handle exceptional situations is needed in advance. One aspect is simply planning for end-user coordination, as well as a general approach to handling with or without user involvement. This covers topics such as:
o Blocked File Extensions
o Very Large Files
E. Site Architecture
Planning for a Site Collection approach, for the appropriate granularity in support of the migration in planned phases:
o Site Collection granularity, in planning for long-term future growth
o URL design
o Site Template
o Possible site hierarchy
o Possible security consolidation and simplification
o Navigation, and possible use of Hub site(s)
F. Project Planning
Migration planning, sequence, cut-over planning, and communication
Identification of critical path and optimized sequencing of efforts
G. Risk Management
Identification of key risks and mitigation activities
H. Estimation of Remaining Migration Stages
Refined estimation of effort and duration for migrating each department (LOB)
The changeover process in a SharePoint migration plan includes:
- Stopping workflows that are identified for migration
- Initial migration
- Delta migrations
- Changing the setting of the source to read-only
Step 5: Initial Migration
The initial migration surfaces migration issues and related migration failures, that are successively addressed. Once a successful initial migration is completed, changes are made at the source, and any remaining errors, are addressed in the delta migrations. Typically a delta migration is done daily, up until the migration cutover. The actual delta frequency is determined by the content sizing, and duration to both analyze the prior migration results and duration to execute the delta migration.
The bulk of the project duration will be on the migration of content. The approach is to initially move the maximum amount of content, and only when close to cutover, do the final updates to the destination known as the “Delta” migration. This Delta is the final sync-up of content.
Step 6: Delta Migration
The final true-up of content is done and finalized and prepared for the transition. This is done repeatedly leading up to the cutover. Typically the delta is applied based on the date of the initial migration (or prior delta).
To learn about Microsoft Tenant Migration visit, O365CloudExperts.