Test Phase

Testing the migration is an important step. This is needed both to validate the timings, so a decision can be made on how the migration will be done, and to ensure that the migration will be successful. You want everything to be properly migrated and fully functional.

There are often more than one test migrations, and there could be many. Initial tests will be focused on throughput, and properly estimating how long the migration will take. There are many factors that affect this. Large numbers of very small files typically take longer to migrate than smaller numbers of large files, when comparing throughput based on total content size. Likewise, complex metadata takes longer than a simple last modified date since there is more work to do for each file.

Once the initial testing has happened and the approach is decided, further testing needs to be done to ensure that everything can be migrated successfully. Reconciliation can be done by comparing the inventory of what is to be migrated with an inventory of what was migrated, to ensure the number of files, size, and individual files match. This should also be matched with spot checking by the business, where they validate that what they expect is in the right places and working properly.

The reconciliation and spot-checking process is important when the actual migration happens, as it needs to be repeated to validate the actual migration and ensure everything was successful.