Migration Manager for SharePoint FAQsHorizontal_bar
Frequently Asked Questions

How much content can be migrated using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition is a highly scalable product. The typical migration project for which Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition is used ranges from 5,000 to 100,000 web pages and documents to be migrated. There is clear ROI for migration projects that start at 500 pages in size and no reason not to use the product for much larger migration projects.

What advantages does Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition bring over competitive products?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition has several key advantages over competitive products:

Interaction with SharePoint through supported APIs only

All Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition interactions with SharePoint are done through supported APIs. This ensures that the target SharePoint deployment will remain in a Microsoft supportable state. This contrast with other migration products that write directly to the SharePoint database. Database writes cause a SharePoint deployment to become unsupportable by Microsoft and risks SharePoint data corruption.

Remote SharePoint interaction

All Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition interactions with SharePoint are completed over authenticated remote connections. As a result, migration work can be performed from one or more client machines. Other products require that the migration client be installed on the target SharePoint server.

Ease of download and install

The Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition download and install experience is easy and straightforward. The client application is roughly a 6 MB download with an MSI installer and only one dependency: .Net 2.0. Other products have much larger downloads, cumbersome installation processes, lengthy configurations, and numerous dependencies on other software applications.

Comprehensive logging

All Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition migrations to SharePoint are comprehensively logged.

Content transformation and analysis capabilities

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition comes with a suite of built-in capabilities that analyze and transform content prior to migration. This allows you to remediate content and identify what makes sense to migrate to SharePoint before actually moving any content. Other products take an all-or-nothing approach to content migration with no built-in analysis or transformation capabilities.

What advantages does Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition have over a custom-developed solution?

Metalogix has specialized in content migration to SharePoint since its inception. You will be able to leverage this expertise, and Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition’s proven migration capabilities, for a fraction of the cost that would be required to develop a custom solution.

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition provides solutions for common, but complex, migration challenges that include post-migration link correction, automated SharePoint site-hierarchy creation, automated migration of documents and images associated with web content, migration of content to SharePoint web parts, and comprehensive user interfaces for content mapping.

What is the average transfer rate for migrating HTML content and metadata using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition on average migrates 1-4 GB of content per hour. The migration transfer rate depends on the hardware infrastructure. The limiting steps in transfer rates are two-fold: network bandwidth and SharePoint APIs. Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition operates as fast as the network and SharePoint APIs will allow.

What is the best practice for migrating a high volume of data using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition uses a project and workspace paradigm to manage sets of content to be migrated. Each project contains multiple workspaces that, in turn, aggregate items that are imported from the source system and then migrated to SharePoint. Our recommendation is to structure each project to contain no more than 10,000 records to be migrated. For this reason, the best practice for handling large migrations is to have multiple projects. For example, to migrate 200,000 pages, use 20 projects of approximately 10,000 pages. This best practice is as much a human limitation as a technical one. In our experience, tasking one migration technician with more than 10,000 records to migrate at a time leads to a decrease in migration quality.

Do you have an importer for Vignette? Why is it not mentioned in the list of connectors?

We currently do have an importer for migrating content from Vignette to SharePoint. Every Vignette implementation is different, however, and customization is generally required for the importer to accommodate each implementation of Vignette. Please contact us for further details if you have need to migrate from Vignette.

What is the architecture of Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition and how does it handle various sources and data during migration?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition is a .NET 2.0 client application that communicates remotely with SharePoint through supported APIs. The product uses an intermediate database content store, known as a metabase, that contains references to source web pages and documents along with the specific pieces of metadata and web content to be migrated. The solution supports a full range of content sources as well as the ability to customize content to specific content types in SharePoint. Any content that is accessible over HTTP or a file system can be imported or migrated. Metalogix has numerous API- and DB-level connectors for many source systems including: MCMS, eRoom, SiteScape, SQLServer, Vignette and Excel.

What steps are involved in a typical migration project?

  1. Source: Existing Content Inventory
  2. Source: Existing Content Analysis
  3. SharePoint: Requirements Gathering
  4. SharePoint: Site Development
  5. Content Extraction from Source into Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition
  6. Field Mapping to SharePoint using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition
  7. Cntent Migration to SharePoint using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition
  8. Link Correction in SharePoint using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition
  9. SharePoint: Site Functionality QA
  10. SharePoint: Content QA

Can I create an importer for a system that is currently not supported by Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition is highly configurable and easily extensible. Custom importers to Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition can be created with some technical training from Metalogix.

Do I have to install Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition on my SharePoint server or Source system server for migrating content?

No. The Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition architecture can be deployed with great deal of flexibility. The typical deployment involves installing the client application on multiple client machines that have required access to source system and SharePoint. There are no restrictions on installing Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition directly on the SharePoint or source system server if that configuration makes more sense in your environment.

Can I use Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition to migrate content to various environments? E.g., Development, QA, Production, etc.

All Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition configurations are stored in a local database within a Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition data file. As long as the source and target systems have the same configuration on all environments, updating the URL for the source and the target sites will maintain all other configurations across environments. In this way, re-configuring a migration to point to Dev, QA or Production is accomplished by running a built-in action to re-target the migration configuration by simply changing the base SharePoint server URL.

List of supported Source Systems:

  • Vignette
  • MCMS 2002
  • NTFS Directories
  • Documentum eRoom
  • SiteScape
  • Any HTTP (or HTTPS) accessible content (such as static HTML pages, linked files, images etc.) CSV files.

   Note: Custom connectors for any ECM API or DB can be added.

List of supported Target Systems:

All versions of WSS, SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server are supported as a migration target with the obvious limitation that web content can only be migrated to MOSS 2007 and SharePoint 2010 as these are the only SharePoint products with that feature.

List of supported Operating Systems:

  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows 7 

Do we need to freeze our Source System when doing the migration using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

No. This may make sense for business process reasons but Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition does not require a content freeze.

Describe how content migration is done within Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Extraction / Importing

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition imports web pages and/or file content directly from the Source System. A record is created in Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition for each content item with a distinct column for each metadata and content field.

Mapping

Migration settings are then set on Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition content items using built-in SharePoint migration configuration dialogs. When migrating to SharePoint web pages, settings are specified for the target SharePoint site, dynamic site and folder creation logic (optional), target content type, column mappings from Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition fields to SharePoint content item fields, SharePoint workflow, and associated content migration settings. These settings can be set for one or many items at a time and settings can be copied and pasted between items at any time.

Migration

After import and migration settings are configured, any content can be migrated to SharePoint with the click of a button. The migration process is as follows:

  • Determine target SharePoint list or library for the content item being migrated, dynamically creating sites, libraries and folders as necessary
  • Create a new SharePoint content item corresponding to the selected Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition content item Populate the SharePoint content item with any mapped metadata and content Migrate any associated static files for the content item as required Add the content item to the SharePoint list or library

Do you produce a detailed migration log?

All steps in the migration process are stored in a detailed migration log. Success status is indicated upon completion in a dialog box, the log file, and content item fields that indicate success and the URL of the associated migrated SharePoint item.

Can I copy/paste my settings between various items that I need to migrate?

All migration settings, including target SharePoint site, content type, column mappings and resource migration settings are configured at the item level. Once created, settings can be easily edited and re-used. Settings can also be easily copied and pasted between items. This model enables content to be migrated multiple times without requiring any re-configuration.

How does Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition discover the associated content for the webpages?

Content associations are discovered by analysing the hyperlinks that exist within web content, assessing them and then determining whether they are links to other internal web pages, external web pages or content resources (ex. documents and images).

How does Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition handle migration of content associated with web pages? Can I migrate the associated content / static files independently? What are the recommendations around migrating associated content / static files?

Associated content and static files can either be discovered automatically within web content or crawled independently from any file repository. Post-import, static files can either be migrated automatically along with their corresponding web content or migrated separately from web content and then automatically re-associated with their corresponding web content using Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition’s link correction feature set. The first approach is simpler because it requires no explicit management of static files. The second approach is more powerful as it gives you more granular control over where and how static files will be migrated to SharePoint. Please contact us if you would like assistance determining the best approach for your specific case.

Can Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition migration task be scheduled?

Yes, once it has been configured, any migration project can be executed from the command line. Command-line execution can be scripted with PowerShell and scheduled using several built-in Windows tools.

What reporting options are available within Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition’s built-in analysis engine provides powerful ad-hoc querying and reporting capabilities. Any report can be exported to Excel for further tailoring and analysis. Examples of powerful reports enabled by Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition include:

  • Content Authoring Histories
  • Amount of Content by Author/Editor
  • Amount of Content by Content Type
  • Amount of Content by Site

Is there any training available for Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Metalogix and our partners offer a variety of services including:

  • On-site Training: Many of our partners offer on-site training and other professional services to assist with your migration.
  • Webinars: A wide range of pre-recorded webinars is available for specific functional areas of the product.
  • Custom Remote Training: Custom remote training via LiveMeeting is available and can be customized to suit client needs.

 

How does Metalogix provide technical support for Migration Manager for SharePoint - Website Edition?

Metalogix is well-known for its excellent support. Visit the Support Page for more details. 

Can you participate in a POC?

Yes. Both Metalogix are our partners have a great deal of experience participating in large migration project POCs. Please contact us directly for pricing and/or partner contacts.

 

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