Migration Support

Large data migrations require meticulous preparation. User shares to OneDrive, group shares to Teams Sites, application data from one NAS platform to another – even taken in stages, migrations can encompass hundreds of terabytes, millions of folders, and hundreds of millions of files.

Early insight into the content of the file systems to be migrated, and the permissions configurations, can trim weeks off of migration time-lines and remediate significant risks. Affected parties can be informed well in advance, shares can be sanitized of unsupported and troublesome system files (and redundant data), permissions can be aligned to ensure access for migration processes…

The ability to measure changes in the data footprint as the migration takes place aids fast identification and resolution of problems, as well as up and down-stream reporting. Monitor data volume trends and match them against expectations, watch for file ownership and file dates being corrupted by broken migration processes of miss-configured tools, identify if decommissioned file shares are still being used – and who is using them…

Northern’s software offers the following metrics, summaries, and lists in its Migration Support dashboards:

• Unsupported in M365
  • The total number of unmigratable files and folders in each category (see below)
  • For each Root Path, the number of folders with leading or trailing spaces in their names
  • For each Root Path, the number of folders with unsupported names
  • For each Root Path, the number files with leading or trailing spaces in their names
  • For each Root Path, the number of files with unsupported names
  • For each Root Path, the number of files with unsupported characters in their names
  • For each Root Path, the number of files larger than 250GB
  • For each Root Path, the total volume of data that cannot be migrated
  • A list of unmigratable folders
  • A list of unmigratable files
• Long Paths
  • The number of file paths over 260 characters long
  • The number of file paths over 400 characters long
  • For each Root Path, the count of file paths over 260 characters long
  • For each Root Path, the count of file paths over 400 characters long
  • For each Root Path, the length of the longest file path
• System Files
  • The total number of THUMBS.DB, .DS_STORE, DESKTOP.INI, and AUTORUN.INF files
  • A list of these system files
  • The total number of PST files
• Permissions for Migration Accounts
  • The number folders where accounts to be used do not have the required level of access
  • A list of these folders
• Migration Status
  • Last Activity per Root Path
  • File count per owner DEPARTMENT (AD property) for each Root Path
  • Root Paths without SHARE permissions
  • Number of files owned by MIGRATION accounts, per Root Path
  • AD HOMEDIRECTORY value for each file owner, with last-logon timestamp

There are few more important times to ‘Know your Data’ than at the point of migration. You need information to tread that narrow path; to navigate past the tremendous risks. Northern delivers that information.

GET STARTED

Contact your Account Manager or the Professional Services team when you’re ready to feed Northern data into your migration processes.