Once you've decided to take advantage of cloud technology, resources, and scale, and have set up an Azure infrastructure, there is the small matter of transferring your existing data to the cloud. A migration is successful when the target production system is up and running correctly with the minimum impact on the business' operation. Achieving this requires knowing what data issues you will have in the new environment and minimizing system downtime while the data is transferred. This course looks at strategies and tools to achieve an optimal migration.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the underlying concepts of migrating relational databases to Azure
- Explore the factors in determining the optimal migration scenario as well as those affecting the physical movement of data from on-premises to Azure
- Learn the different tools and services to aid in discovery, assessment, and migration
- Learn how to migrate an on-premises SQL Server DB to Azure SQL Managed Instance using the Data Migration Service
- Use Data Migration Assistant to migrate on-Premises SQL Server databases to Azure SQL DB
- Migrate MySQL to Azure MySQL using MySQL Workbench
- Migrate a MySQL database to Azure SQL Server using SQL Server Migration Assistant
Intended Audience
This course is ideal for anyone looking to migrate their existing on-premise database environment to an Azure SQL database solution.
Prerequisites
To get the most out of this course, you should be familiar with general database and cloud concepts.
Like all journeys, migration has a point of departure, and in the case of databases, it's your current environment. To take the journey metaphor one step further, not including that terrible pun, your starting point has a significant bearing on how complex the journey will be. If you're coming from a Windows hosted SQL Server environment, there's a good chance the wind will be at your back most of the way. However, if you're starting point is a database not natively supported on Azure, then metaphorically speaking, you might be tacking into rough seas and a headwind. Fully understanding your current database environments, including all associated and connected systems, is paramount in determining which ones can be migrated. There are situations where systems have to remain on-premises resulting in a hybrid setup. There may not be Azure SQL like for like equivalents to your on-premises DBs, and some you can transfer to the cloud as-is. Some will require refactoring or the associated systems will need modification, or a system may require any combination of these treatments.
Once you've conducted a proper assessment of your database and related assets and designed your target environments, you can plan the migration process. Not only does the type and structure of the source and target environments dictate the migration plan, but the amount of data and your tolerance for system downtime is a significant factor in choosing a migration strategy.
The actual migration is a product of all the factors mentioned so far - the source and target environments, the processes required to transfer and transform data from one to the other, and specific business-related requirements. Azure and Microsoft provide a wide variety of resources to assist in all phases of the migration process. These resources are tools, online services, consulting services, and extensive information.
Hallam is a software architect with over 20 years experience across a wide range of industries. He began his software career as a Delphi/Interbase disciple but changed his allegiance to Microsoft with its deep and broad ecosystem. While Hallam has designed and crafted custom software utilizing web, mobile and desktop technologies, good quality reliable data is the key to a successful solution. The challenge of quickly turning data into useful information for digestion by humans and machines has led Hallam to specialize in database design and process automation. Showing customers how leverage new technology to change and improve their business processes is one of the key drivers keeping Hallam coming back to the keyboard.