Moving is disruptive by nature. When moving houses, you have to gather your belongings, make the move, and double-check that nothing is left behind. Going out of order can mean lost, broken, or messy belongings. And nobody wants that. Before you move, you have to pack.
The same goes for moving your data. While moving data is always disruptive, it doesn’t have to be difficult. And with Movebot, data migrations are fast and easy. As long as you PAC properly, your data migration will be straightforward, smooth, and easy to manage so that you can start working from your new platform as soon as possible while minimizing disruptions.
What is PAC?
PAC stands for Plan, Advance, Cutover, the three steps of a Movebot migration. If you PAC correctly, your data won’t have a problem getting into its new home.
Plan
For most migrations, the bulk of the process is in planning, especially with large organization migrations. This is still the same for Movebot, but it takes a different form than you might be used to if you've used other data migration tools.
Typically, planning would involve spinning up virtual machines, configuring advanced settings for the migration, and then planning a time for the actual project when people are away so it doesn't mess with operations.
That's not how it is with Movebot.
Keep it simple, SaaS
Movebot is a completely SaaS data migration tool, which for users means you don't have to worry about downloading applications, setting up virtual machines, dealing with infrastructure, none of that. Instead, everything is managed through the intuitive web interface, and Movebot does everything for you based on what settings you choose during project setup.
It also means that Movebot autoscales to meet your needs. If your migration can get a bit more speed, Movebot will figure it out for you and create the optimal infrastructure. All you need to do is choose what you want--not figure out how to make it happen. We've got that part covered.
Choosing what data to move
The other part of planning with Movebot is choosing what data you actually want to migrate. This is also different from many other data migration tools because you don't have to move the entire source to the destination in one shot. In fact, you don't have to move the entire source at all.
There are a few ways that Movebot lets you choose what data to move. One is when you're creating a new project and get to the content exclusion rules. You can mix and match rules like file extension, name, and last modification date to leave out files named "Test" untouched for 10 years from an obsolete piece of software no one can use anymore. You can be as broad or as specific as you like here to make sure you're only moving the files that you want.
The other way to choose what data to move is after the initial project setup. After connecting the source and destination and choosing your settings, you'll start mapping individual transfers. These can be as big as an entire drive (or entire organization in some cases) down to the deepest subfolder. You can map folders manually, or in bulk by filling out a CSV mapping template or letting Movebot automatically map user and drive folders. After being mapped in bulk, you could still choose not to run specific transfers if it's for users/drives/folders you don't need.
Running a pre-migration scan
The pre-migration scan is a free tool that checks the amount of data you have and looks at your source and destination to make sure there won’t be any issues in the transfer. In some providers, for instance, the data estimate includes files that are shared with multiple users and counts it for each user, even though it’s only a single file that will only be moved once. Movebot checks for these situations to determine how much data actually needs to be moved and gives you an estimate.
Doing a scan isn’t a requirement, but we highly recommend it. The scan picks up potential issues and lets you address them if needed so that your data migration will go smoothly. Often, it will simply tell you that your data is good to go, but it’s helpful for peace of mind to see that written out to you.
Movebot’s pre-migration scan gives you a lot of important data to review. One of the most important sections to consider is the errors. Errors range from low (Warnings), to Critical depending on the severity. If the scan shows you're likely to have errors in your migration, you can decide if you need to make changes before starting the transfer.
After the scan, the next step is to Advance and transfer the data from one platform to the next.
Advance
After Plan, the next step of PAC is Advance, and Movebot makes it simple and easy to make your move. With the ability to connect to over 30 different cloud providers (as well as on-prem servers) and move between them, you’ll have no problem advancing your data from one to the next. From almost anywhere you start, there’s a path to get you to your new destination with Movebot.
Setting up and running transfers
As mentioned above, Movebot doesn't make you move everything, and it's common practice to set up a few transfers and run them simultaneously. After setting up the transfer, you'll get several options for what action to take next including starting a scan, a full migration, delta migration, data only, and more. You can also choose to launch the action immediately or schedule it for later.
Because you can choose what type of action to take and when you want it to happen, you have full control over how your data moves. Choose to run specific transfers at specific times, or run several at once, it's all up to you.
Unmatched data migration speed
Using Movebot is like taking a private jet compared to a moving truck. Because of its serverless architecture, Movebot has faster data migrations and the potential for incredible speeds compared to other data migration tools. This means less time waiting, fewer disruptions in the workplace, and more opportunities to focus on other tasks.
That difference in speed isn’t an exaggeration either. Movebot file transfers can be over 20x faster than some competitors. Movebot can regularly move about 2-5 TB/day. In some cases, it can go significantly faster. For more information about Movebot’s speed, see our article Movebot data migrations are fast, but how fast is fast?
Seeing your data migration performance
Once you start the migration, there isn’t anything you have to do because Movebot handles everything for you. However, if you want to review your data migration status including the estimated time remaining, you can do that while the transfer is in progress.
The Performance Tracker provides real-time stats and gives you any recommendations if it believes there is something that is reducing your performance. You can see live stats on metrics such as rate limiting, average upload and download time, errors and error rates, vCPU usage for the moveworkers, and data transfer rates.
Cutover
Once the data is moved over, the final step of PAC is to do Cutover or delta migrations. Many migrations move the bulk of data while files in the source are still being worked on. Even though Movebot is incredibly fast, for enormous migrations like moving a PB of data, many files will be added to the source while the migration is in process. And you'll want to make sure those make it in the migration too.
Again, Movebot has it covered.
Delta migrations with Movebot
After the bulk of the data is moved across it’s important to only move the files that were added or updated. Cutover or Delta Migrations do just that. Once you’ve moved your data you can go back and pick up anything new. And you don’t have to bring the old stuff with you; simply take a load of just the new stuff and move it over.
With Movebot, delta migrations are a bit different. Running a delta will analyze the source and destination, then move anything that's newer in the source to the destination. So if some files were added to the source or updated more recently, those files will be moved and that's it.
Customize your migration to suit your needs
With Movebot, you only have to connect your source and destination once, and you can break up the migration into as many jobs as you want. For each of those jobs, you can go back and grab just what’s changed instead of having to migrate from scratch. You don’t have to lose any changes you’ve made.
While these delta migrations won’t update files that were deleted (Movebot doesn’t delete files because it doesn’t ever access your data), it will find any new additions and let you start a new job to just move those over. This way, you can continue to work through a migration because all of your new files will still arrive at the destination. And, because Movebot copies files instead of directly transferring them, there's virtually no chance of data loss--and users can work in the source as much as they want with the confidence that their updates will arrive at the destination.
PAC for a successful migration
Making your move go smooth requires that you PAC properly. Start with a Plan and see what you have. Then Advance the bulk of it over to your new destination. And if you added some new items during the main move, finish off with a Cutover migration. Plus, if you ever need it, you can get in touch with the support team any time in the process and the professionals can help you PAC.
If you’re planning a data migration, take a look at Movebot. You can register for an account, connect your storage, and do a pre-migration scan for free to decide if the platform is right for you. Sign up and give it a try today.
