Data migration testing plays a crucial role in a successful move to the cloud environment. During migration resting migrated data is compared with original data. It allows experts to identify any possible discrepancies and fix errors. Learn about the main data migration testing types, strategies, and scenarios in our paper.

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ThesearethemostcommontypesofDataMigration:
Hence,avoidingdatalossduringmigrationplaysacrucialrole.
Hereisalistofthemostcommonmistakesbusinessowners
makewhenmigratingdata:
Wehavealreadyseenthatdatamigrationisacomplexprocesspronetomistakes.
Undoubtedly,theriskofdatacorruptionandlossincreasesdramaticallyduring
migration.AccordingtoHostingTribunal,theconsequencesofdataloss
canreachadramaticdimension:
Data Migration Testing:
Purpose, Test Strategy
And Scenarios
Thereasonswhybusinessesdecidetomigratedatavary:
reducecosts,enhancescalabilityandflexibility,addsecurity,
enhancecollaborativework,systemupgrades,etc.But,
whateverthereasons,DataMigrationgoeswellbeyond
transferringinformationfromonesourcetoanother.Itisa
complexprocessthatrequiresexpertise,skills,and–obviously
–therighttools.Thebiggertheamountofdata,themore
challengingandcomplexthemigrationprocesswillbe.
What is Validation Testing? ?
?
DatamigrationtestingincludesDataLevelValidationandApplicationLevelValidation.
DataLevelValidationTesting
Therearevarious
levelsofverifications:
ismeanttoverifyifdatahasbeen
migratedwithoutdiscrepancies.
Rowcounts(i.e.numberof
recordstobemigrated)
Dataverification(i.e.verifythe
accuracyofamigrateddata
sample)
Entitlementverification(i.e.the
verificationofthedestination
database)
TheApplicationLevelValidationTesting
impliestheverificationofthefunctionality
ofamigratedsampleapplication
toensureitssmoothrunning
withthenewdatabase.
Thisprocessimpliesvariousvalidations:
Loggingintothenewapplication
andverifyingasampledataset
Loggingintothelegacysystem
andverifyingtheaccounts’ status
Verifyingcustomersupportaccess
tolegacysystems,orensuring
useraccesstolegacysystemsif
themigrationprocessfails.
Migration Testing Types and Scenarios
The common mistakes in Data Migration
What is Data Migration Testing? ??
Insimpleterms,datamigrationisaprocessthatconsistsofmovingdata,application,
andotherelements–eithermanuallyorautomaticallyusingmigrationtools–froma
sourceplatformtothedestinationone.Usually,legacysystemsareeitherreplacedor
expandedbynewapplicationsthatshareacommondataset.
Thecurrenttendencyamongbusinessesistoreplaceon-premisesapplications
andinfrastructureswithcloud-basedapplicationsandstorage.Andtherearegood
reasonsbehindthisdecision.
However,DataMigrationTestingplaysacrucialroleandit’snotrisk-free.Migrateddata
iscomparedwithoriginaldata,thusallowingexpertstoidentifyanypossible
discrepanciesandfixerrors.
AccordingtoMicrosoftOffice365,the
benefitsofcloudenvironments‘stackup’
forsmallandmedium-sizedbusinesses:
Smallbusinessesthatreport
securitybenefitssincemoving
tothecloud
94%
59%
30%
82%
70%
Smallbusinessesusingcloud
servicesthatreportsignificant
productivitybenefitsfromIT
Smallbusinessesnotyetusing
cloudservicesthatreport
significantproductivity
benefitsfromIT
Companiessurveyedthat
reducedcostsasaresult
utilizingcloudtechnology
Surveyedsmallbusinessesthat
reportreinvestingcloudcost-
savingbackintotheirbusiness
AccordingtoTechJury,thecloud
adoptionstatisticsaremind-blowing:
Thepubliccloudcomputing
marketwillbeworth$800
billionby2025
By2024,enterprisecloud
spendingwillmakeup14%
ofITrevenueglobally
Platformasaservice(PaaS) will
growby26.6% in2021
70% ofcompaniesusingcloud
plantoincreasetheirbudgets
inthefuture
61% ofbusinessesmigratedtheir
workloadstothecloudin2020
Amazonwebservices(AWS) had
a76% shareoftheenterprise
cloudadoptionin2020.
40%-60% of small businesses
won’t reopen after data loss
Small businesses are set back
$8,000 for an hour of downtime
The average cost of downtime
for large enterprises is more
than $11,600 perminute
The annualized faliure rate of
harddrivesfor the third quarter
of 2020 was0.89%
The average cost of downtime
for companies of all sizes is
$4,600/minute
In40% ofthecases,the reason
for data loss is a hardwarefaliure
Detecting breaches takes
around 206 days
2,013 databreachesoccured
in 2019 alone
Humanerroris the cause of
information loss in 29% ofcases
-$
The average cost of compromised
data in 2020 was $3,86 million
$
! !
!
1
Notremovinglegacy structuresthatareinefficientorobsolete
Beforeyoubeginthemigrationprocess,itisnecessarytoexamineanddecide
whatsourcedatashouldbemigrated.Migratingduplicatesorerrorscanresultin
expensivefailures.It’stimetogetridofallthejunkdata.
2
Insufficientorfaulty testingandvalidation
Thinkingthatmigrationwillrunseamlesslyisunrealistic.Theonlywaytoachieve
yourgoalandsavetimeandmoneyisbyperformingtestingthroughoutthe
entireprocess.
3
Lackofexpertise
Sometimes,businessownersunderestimatethecomplexityofthedatamigration
process.Nottomentionthechallengesitposes. Inorderforadatamigration
processtorunwell,itismandatorytocountontheexpertiseofspecialistswhoare
abletoquicklyidentifyandfixdatadiscrepancies.
4
Leavingend-usersaside
Beforebeginningadatamigrationprocess,thereisonequestionthatmost
businessownersforgettoaskthemselves:‘Whoisgoingtousethisdata?’ Itisnot
goingtobetheITspecialist,that’sforsure.Soitisimportanttoengageallthe
end-usersinthemigrationprocesstoavoiduncountablesupportrequestsand
downtimesoncethemigrationiscompleted.
Whenitcomestotesting,qualityisparamount.Butsoisspeed,especiallyifyou
wanttoreducerisks,identifyerrorsearlier,reducesystemdowntime,savetimeand
costs,and,thus,speedupyourbusiness’ development.
Sincethemigrationneedsaredifferent,automatedmigrationtoolsdifferaswell.
AltexsoftanalysedfourofthebestavailableTestAutomationtools:
How can Test Automation benefit Data Migration?
Deployment
+
+
Astra
Centerprise
On-premises Jobscheduling Plethoraoffeatures
andconnections
From$30k
peryear
Freetrial
Nofreeversion
Drag-and-dropUI
Bestcustomer
service
Issueswith
metadata
Lackofcloud
options
Joborchestration
Dataprofiling
Datavalidation
Parallel-processing
ETL
Windows
Platform
+
+
Talend Cloud-based Plethoraoffeatures
andconnections
From$12k
peruser/ year
14 daysfree
trial
900+ free
components
Effectiveprofiling
Impressivedata
migrationspeed
Fee-basedand
sometimes
fruitlesstech
support
Joborchestration
Dataprofiling
ETL
Debugging
Datagovernance
Windows,
andMacOS
platforms
+
+
Informatica
PowerCenter
On-premises,
Cloud-based
Highspeedofdata
transformation
Onrequest
30 daysfree
trial
Nofreeversion
Unrivalid
performancewhen
movinglarge
datasets
Longlearning
curve
Inflatedpricing
Workflow
management
Repeatabledata
auditandvalidation
Parallel-processing
ETL
Loadbalancing
Windows
Platform
+
+
StarfishETL On-premises,
Cloud-based IntuitiveUI From$495 per
migration
Freetrial
Nofreeversion
Advancedsupport
ofscripting
languages
Manypre-built
migrationmaps
Detailederror-
reporting
Runonlyone
migrationatatime
Techbackground
required
Workflow
management
Backuprecovery
ETL
Testing
Reporting
Windows
Platforms
Keepinmindthattestautomationdoesn’tmeanyouwillnolongerneedaspecialist
toplan,supervise,andvalidatethemigrationprocess.A tool’sefficiencyonlygoesas
farastheexpertiseofthepersonusingit.
Key features Prosandcons Pricing
Datamigrationtonewerandmoreperformantsystemsallowsbusinessesto
transformandimprovetheirecosystemsandgrantsthemadvantagesovertheir
competitors.However,thedatamigrationprocessiscomplexanderror-prone.
Usingtherightstrategiesandtoolsattherighttimeandavoidingcommon
mistakesistheonlywaytoensurethesuccessofthemigrationprocess.
To sum up
Inthiscase,anentireapplication
needstobemigratedfromone
platformtoanewone.Forexample,
migratingASP.NettoWindows
Azureormigratinganapptothe
cloud.Testingshouldinclude:
identifyingrequirementsandscope
oftesting,testingtheflowinthe
legacyapplicationandcontrastit
withthenewoneand–ifnecessary–
testthenewflow.
Inthiscase,expertsshouldmakesure
thattheappworkscorrectlyandthat
thenewplatformsupportsallthe
application’scomponentswithout
errors(e.g.plug-ins,paths,add-ons,
etc.) itisimportanttomakesurenot
onlythatolddataisretainedbutalso
thatnewdatafunctionscorrectlyon
thenewplatform.
Onetestingscenariocouldbemigrate
anapplicationtonewtechnology.
ApplicationMigration
Inthiscase,theserverdataandthe
configurationaremigratedtoanew
server.MigratingHP BoxtoIBMBox
couldbeagoodexample.When
performingtesting,expertsshould
ensurecompliancewiththe
destinationserverandtestdata
handling.Itisimportanttomake
surethatthereisnodatacorruption.
ServerMigration ServerMigrationtestingscenarios:
Verifyingrequest-responce
betweenserverandtheapplication
Testingclient-serverlogsforallactions
Ensuringthatthewholesystem
passestesting
Testingthestabilityofthe
environmentandensuringthere
arenoconnectivityissues
Herearesomeexamplesofre-disigning:WindowstoLinux,migrationtoCloud-
basedVMs,ormigratingtoSaaS.TestingshouldincludetheanalysisofthenewOS’s
dependenciesandseehowconfigurationmodificationsinfluencetheapplication.
Sinceflowmightvary,ExtensiveTestingandCompatibilitytestingaremandatory.
Thisisprobably themost
complicatedtypeofmigration.
Whenanapplicationneedstobe
migratedfromanoperatingsystem
toanewone,compatibilityrisks
ariseandmanycomponents(e.g.
interface,configuration,etc.) might
requirere-designing.
OS Migration OS MigrationTestingScenarios:
EnsureSoftwareandHardware
compatibility
Ensureperformanceisnot
affectedonthenewOS
Ensurethewholesystem
passestesting
Inthiscase,allthedatainanapplication’sdatabaseismigratedtoanewdatabase.For
themigrationtobesuccessful,itisnecessaryfortheapplicationtobestableandthedata
tobevalid.RDBMS toanewRDBMS ortoMongoDBcouldbetwomigrationexamples.
DatabaseMigration
DatabaseMigrationtestingscenarios:
Ensuringthatthelegacydatabase
doesn’tgetupdatedduringtesting
oncemigrationiscompleted
Makingshurethattablelevelsand
themappingatfielddon’tchange
Verifyingthatalldatahasbeen
migratedaccurately
Performingpre- andpost-
migrationtesting
Ifthedatabaseismigratedtoa
similartypeofdatabase,thetesting
scenarioshouldbe
Ensuringthattheexeccuted
querieshavethesameresultsin
thelegacyandnewdatabasesand
thatthenewdatabasefunctions
exactlyliketheoldone
Usinganautomationtool,ensure
thatthenumbarofrecordsisthe
sameinbothdatabases
Ensuringthattablestructures,
relationshipandschemahavenot
beenaltered
Makeshurethatthenewdatabse
providesconnectiontoallthe
application’scomponents(e.g.
interfaces,server,firewall,etc.)