Choosing a migration method

There are several factors to consider when choosing the appropriate migration method and tool. As discussed in the previous section, time allocated to perform data transfers, the volume of data, and network speeds influence the decision between different data migration methods. You should also consider, for each data store, server, or application stack, the number of repetitive steps required to transfer data from source to target. Then, evaluate the variance of these steps as they are repeated. In other words, are there unique requirements per data store that require non-trivial changes to the data migration procedures? Then, evaluate the level of existing investments in custom tooling and automation in your organization. You will need to determine if it is more worthwhile to use existing self-managed tooling and automation or sunset them in favor of managed services and tools. You can use following decision tree as a framework to choose a suitable migration method and tool:

Figure 1 - Migration Method Decision Tree