The mission of Cross-Empire Data Migration is to quickly and easily perform automated movement of data, based on a variety of scenarios, including the movement of data for multiple users and groups directly to its intended location across multiple servers or shares in a single operation, all while preserving certain file system metadata. Further, Cross-Empire Data Migration lets you leverage the policies provided in Novell Storage Manager to allow the customer to move to a managed storage environment on the target system and optionally restructure and reorganize data in the process.
An organization can use a wizard in NSMAdmin to implement a phased approach to migration by incorporating one or more migration types offered through the interface to add work onto the Novell Storage Manager event queue. In taking advantage of the dispatching and state machine architecture features of the event queue, the migration effort can be enhanced both in terms of performance through the NSM Agent subsystem and in terms of reliability in overcoming outages and other factors that occur in real-world environments. Additionally, other options involving copying rights, file ownership, filtering of the files to be copied and more, allow for greater control and flexibility during a data migration operation.
The Cross-Empire Data Migration architecture is engineered to eventually support multiple types of source platforms and targets, but the current release is limited to a Novell eDirectory source environment and a Microsoft Active Directory target environment. Cross-Empire Data Migration generally supports three constructs for movement:
Cross-Empire Data Migration can be used to copy User object personal file data from the source platform to the target platform. In an eDirectory to Active Directory scenario, this would likely be a migration of the data from the Novell home directory to the Microsoft home folder. There are two options for migrating personal storage. The difference between the two is related to how Novell Storage Manager determines the path to a specific user’s data on the source network. These options can be used exclusively or in combination with one another during a migration project:
This option allows you to instruct Novell Storage Manager to determine the source location for user data by using the Home Directory attribute in eDirectory. As part of the migration wizard, you specify a source eDirectory container. The user objects within that container are listed for matching with the target, and you can select one or more users for migration. For each user selected, the Home Directory attribute provides the source file system path to be used. This option is very useful when the Home Directory attribute in the source tree is populated correctly and there is a need to migrate data simultaneously from multiple locations on the source network. It is also very useful if the user directory name on the source does not match the account name on the target.
For procedures on performing a user to user data migration, see Section 11.8, Performing a User to User Data Migration.
This option allows you to specify the location of user data by providing a file system path as the source. Instead of specifying an eDirectory container, you specify a parent folder location on the file system in the source network. From this folder, all immediate subfolders are listed for matching with the target, and you can select one or more for migration. This option is useful when the Home Directory attribute in the source tree is not populated or reliable, or there is a need to migrate a set of users with folders in a single path on a single volume.
For procedures on performing a folder to user data migration, see Section 11.9, Performing a Folder to User Data Migration.
File system data used by groups can also be copied by using the Cross-Empire Data Migration subsystem. The options available to the administrator are similar to those available for user storage, but are different in whether to rely on data in directory services or specify the file system paths directly.
The underlying concept behind both options is that the collaborative storage is being moved to a managed storage environment on the target network, which means that the Group Home Directory attribute is being populated and managed in directory services in the target tree. If you don’t want to move some of the collaborative group directories, you should consider using Direct Folder Storage migration, which is documented at Section 11.1.3, Direct Folder Storage Migration.
The following options are available for moving collaborative storage:
This option allows you to instruct Novell Storage Manager to determine the source location for user data by using the Group Home Directory attribute in eDirectory. As part of the migration wizard, you specify a source eDirectory container. The group objects within that container are listed for matching with the target, and you can select one or more groups for migration. For each group selected, the Group Home Directory attribute provides the source file system path to be used. This option is very useful when Novell Storage Manager has been used to manage collaborative storage in the source tree.
For procedures on performing a group to group data migration, see Section 11.10, Performing a Group to Group Data Migration.
This option allows you to specify the location of group data by providing a file system path. Instead of specifying an eDirectory container, you specify a parent folder location on the file system in the source network. From this folder, all immediate subfolders are listed for matching with the target, and you can select one or more for migration. This option is useful when Novell Storage Manager has not been used in the source tree to manage collaborative group storage or when you are migrating only some of the group storage.
For procedures on performing a folder to group data migration, see Section 11.11, Performing a Folder to Group Migration.
A major benefit in using Novell Storage Manager is that your organization can move to a managed storage environment for its file system data. Novell Storage Manager allows you to define and enforce policies on the data by driving management of it throughout the life cycle of the user or group associated with the data. The architecture of the Cross-Empire Data Migration subsystem allows organizations to move to this paradigm for both user and group storage.
However, you are not required to use this method during the migration process. You might not want to move to managed storage for all of the data, or you might want to move to it in phases. For this reason, the Cross-Empire Data Migration subsystem has provisions for direct movement of data outside of the policy construct by performing a folder to folder data migration.
A folder to folder migration allows you to move a folder and its contents directly from the source network to a designated location on the target network. Selecting this method in the wizard allows you to specify distinct file system paths on both the source and the target networks. All file system contents and metadata are copied during the operation.
For your convenience, there is a option that allows you to migrate all of the closed files located in a folder. Open files are not migrated, but the filenames and paths of all of the open files are logged in a text file. You can then close all of the open files and do a follow-up migration of these remaining files by simply specifying the location of the text file.
With the introduction of Novell Storage Manager 3.1, you can now identify and move all files that are new or have been modified from a given date. Additionally, you can verify that all of the files you wanted to migrate from a source server have been migrated. Performing these tasks is done using four new utilities:
novscan.nlm: A NetWare NLM that scans the contents of the target server and determines what files have been modified or created since you performed a preliminary file to file migration.
NovScanConfig.exe: This Windows executable configures what file system data you want identified from the NetWare or Novell Open Enterprise Server source.
WinScan.exe: This Windows executable lists the contents of the file system on the target Microsoft server following a file to file migration.
ScanCompare.exe: This Windows executable compares the files on the NetWare or Open Enterprise Server source server and the Microsoft Server target server.
For procedures on performing a folder to folder migration, see Section 11.12, Performing a Folder to Folder Migration