Prepare and plan for cloud migration from Dynamics SL
This article provides recommendations to help you define your cloud migration strategy and get environments and users ready for cloud migration.
Run migration assessment tool
The Migration Assessment Tool provides insight into your readiness to migrate. It offers migration options based on your needs and detects potential issues with your Dynamics SL system.
The Dynamics SL Analysis and Dynamics SL Repair tools are available to download and complete from GitHub at BCTech/Samples/DynamicsSLMigrationTools/Analysis and Repair Tool at master · microsoft/BC Tech .
Details on compiling and using the files are included on GitHub.
- The Analysis Tool connects to a Microsoft Dynamics SL database and generates an analysis report text file.
The report outlines and provides an overview of the modules in use and examines the data that can be migrated to Business Central.
Analysis Report information example:
- Microsoft Dynamics SL version
- Microsoft SQL version
- Overview of Microsoft Dynamics SL modules being used
- Module details including the number of:
- Records in master tables
- Records in transaction tables
The Repair Tool connects to a Microsoft Dynamics SL database.
- The Repair tool is used to validate Microsoft Dynamics SL data to identify any issues that require repair before using the online Business Central tool to migrate Microsoft Dynamics SL data to Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.
- Repair Tool:
- Includes automated fixes to the Microsoft Dynamics SL data.
- Includes repair items that need to be addressed.
Determine what data to migrate
The data that's migrated is determined on a per-company basis. When a company is migrated, data in company-specific tables of the base application is migrated.
You can choose to migrate data for all companies or only specific companies. It's recommended to determine which companies to migrate upfront to save time and resources. Keep in mind that the more companies you replicate in a single operation, the longer the migration takes.
You can migrate all the data that you want to take with you to the cloud, but be aware of the storage capacity of your online tenant. If you need more storage than the default 80 GB, you can buy additional environments or additional storage capacity. Storage capacity is determined as 80GB + allowances per licensed Essential/Premium user + any storage capacity licenses. Learn more in Managing Capacity.
Determine your migration approach
Ensure you have a solid migration strategy for a smooth transition. Most migrations can run from the on-premises production database with minimal downtime for end users. For large migrations, consider running the migration from a backup of the on-premises database. Doing migrations this way improves migration speeds and minimizes performance loss and downtime on the on-premises production database. The following steps outline a typical migration approach.
- Create a full backup of the on-premises production database. Differential or partial backups aren't supported as they don't include Change Tracking data required for replication runs.
- Complete the usual preparation steps on the backup on-premises database and address any issues that arise.
- Complete the cloud migration setup, including choosing the companies to migrate.
- Run the replication and address any issues that arise.
- Stop the usage of the on-premises environment ahead of the final backup of the on-premises production database.
- Run Data Upgrade on the cloud environment.
- Complete the migration and go live on the cloud environment.
Important
Ensure the on-premises and cloud environments remain on the same version they were when the cloud migration was set up. Don't update the on-premises environment and reschedule updates to the cloud environment to a date after the cloud migration is completed.
Avoid modifying the environment after the replication has been enabled. If you need to install or uninstall extensions or delete companies, disable the cloud migration, make the changes, and then enable it again.
Keep in mind that the migration process can be complex, and issues might arise that require more troubleshooting. It's important to stay flexible and be prepared to adjust your migration strategy as needed to address any problems that arise.
Schedule
Plan the switch to use Business Central online for production only after the migration is complete.
Don't set up cloud migration for a production environment that's already in use for business. You risk that the migration process overwrites data that's needed to run the business. Even if your migration targets a different company in that environment, you risk that the upgrade overwrites data that's shared across companies in the target environment.
Schedule the migration to avoid conflicts with updates to Business Central online.
Once you set up cloud migration for an environment, the environment can't be updated. If you want to update the environment, you must disable cloud migration. If an update is available, and you haven't started migration, then update target environment first, then migrate. If you have already started the cloud migration process, we recommend that you continue migrating all companies, complete cloud migration, and then update to the next major/minor. By separating update from cloud migration, we remove the risk of potentially corrupting data if the update touches tables with records in both migrated and non-migrated companies.