Top Tools for Enterprise Database Migration

Enterprise-grade database migration has transitioned from being an optional IT project, to being the backbone of the organization’s Digital Transformation, Cloud Adoption, Modernization of Systems, Enablement for AI, and Organisation’s Ability to Scale Globally. In addition to the ability to migrate large amounts of business-critical data (Tens-of-Tens, Hundreds-of-Hundreds), enterprise migrations require a level of precision, security, availability, and interruption-free system operation not found with other small-scale migrations – e.g. Precise schema transformation, the ability to perform complete tests on a complete copy of the database prior to deploying the migration.

To accommodate these unique enterprise requirements, organizations must use proven migration platforms that provide automated processes, change-data-capture (CDC), incremental replication, monitoring/dashboarding, rollback, pipeline readiness to comply with Migration Act 2023, and cross-region migration/transfer capabilities without friction.

Within this guide, we will provide a detailed overview of many of the top enterprise migration products and services used by large organizations, highlight the unique features and benefits offered by such providers, and discuss the characteristics of successful migrations.

1. AWS Database Migration Tools (DMS): Best Migration Tools for Leading Digital Transformation by Organizations to the Cloud

One of the most popular DMS for organizations transitioning to use the cloud, AWS DMS provides an effective way for organizations to transition to the cloud with minimal disruption to business operations by providing real-time replication capabilities.

What AWS DMS Does Well

• Provides live data change replication based on Change Data Capture technology
• Will support both homogeneous (e.g., Oracle to Amazon Aurora) and heterogeneous database (e.g., SQL Server to MySQL) migrations
• Supports both the consolidation of on-premise databases into the cloud and the ongoing synchronization of on-premise databases with databases that are now in the cloud
• Will allow for continuous monitoring of your databases and reporting of any errors
• Allows you to scale up or down server provisioning as needed

When AWS DMS is Ideal to Use

• Large Organizations migrating to AWS Cloud from On-Premise Data Centers
• Hybrid Environments where you need to continue to synchronize Databases
• Other Database Modernization initiatives where you’re moving Databases to Managed Cloud Database Providers like Amazon Aurora & Amazon RDS Services

AWS DMS Limitations

• The only way to take advantage of most AWS DMS features is if your Database is hosted in AWS infrastructure
• You need cloud expertise to extract the maximum potential ROI from AWS DMS

2. Azure Migrate is the best Cloud Migration Tools for organizations Using the Microsoft Stack

Azure Migrate includes all the tools necessary for migrating to the cloud all types of enterprise workloads (e.g., SQL Server, Windows Servers, .NET Applications, Azure Cloud).

What Azure Migrate Does Well

• Pre-Migration Assessment Tool to determine how compatible your System(s) will be with Azure
• Automated Migration Project Tracking Tools for managing the migration project
• There is support for Databases, Virtual Machines, and Enterprise Applications
• Provides Access Control and Authorization options through its Active Directory and Role-Based Access Control
• There is hybrid infrastructure support (i.e., Azure Cloud and On-Premises)

When Azure Migrate is Ideal to Use

• Companies migrating to Azure from Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
• Enterprises that Need Access Control, Governance, and Compliance Built into the Migration Tool

Limitations

• Optimized mostly for Microsoft-based databases
• Learning curve for non-Microsoft environments

3. Google Database Migration Service — Best for Multi-Cloud Growth

Google offers a cloud-based database migration service, enabling companies to move their MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases to the Google Cloud Platform. Automated tools and intelligent integrations simplify the entire migration process.

Key Benefits

1. Serverless support for migrating databases to the cloud
2. Automatic backups throughout the migration process
3. The ability to transform database schemas across different platforms during the migration process
4. The ability to connect rapidly to all Google Cloud offerings
5. Minimal amount of Devops overhead compared to traditional ETL pipeline methods

Best Use Types

• Companies choosing to utilize Google for their analytics, machine learning or worldwide services.
• Companies that maintain multiple cloud services.

Limitations

• Google Cloud only supports a limited number of database engines in comparison to AWS and Azure.
• You will receive the best outcomes when you use the Google Cloud for database migration.

4. Flyway

Flyway is one of the most widely used tools for the migration of database schemas using continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).

Key Benefits

• Provides the capability to track every change made to the database (via migration versioning and unique identifiers) and create a new schema file with each release.
•  Seamlessly integrates with Git DevOps pipelines.
• Provides extensive support for rollback and validating successful migration.
• List of Major Enterprise Databases where Flyway Supports Migration – Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL.

Best Use Types

• Companies wishing to move their database structures incrementally.
• Companies adhering to “database as code”.

5. Liquibase

Liquibase also excels at tracking and documenting every change made to the database, enabling them to build highly auditable records of their migration activities.

Key Strengths

• Stores database changes as files for audit trails
• Offers automated and manual migration controls
• Supports CI/CD integration
• Strong community plugins and monitoring ecosystems

Ideal Use Cases

✔ Industries requiring audit logs (banking, healthcare, government, insurance)
✔ Organizations migrating both data and schema under compliance constraints

6. Fivetran

Ideal for Automated Data Synchronization and Migration of Enterprise Data across Multiple Platforms

Fivetran is a complete, fully-automated solution to automate the transfer of data and is widely used by many enterprises, particularly those that need to replicate data from one system to another.

Top Features:

• No-maintenance, fully-automated pipelines
• Incremental data synchronization
• Connectors available for 300+ different data sources
• Dashboard and alerts designed specifically for the enterprise
• The best solution for replicating databases across various platforms

Best Application Use Cases:

• Synchronization of ERP/CRM/eCommerce database during migration
• Businesses implementing a Data Lake strategy.

7. Talend (ETL Suite) — Ideal for Advanced Transformations of Data at Scale.

Talend is a well-respected and comprehensive ETL/ETL-Hybrid solution for organizations that require extensive customization of how data is transformed.

Top Features:

• Extensive integration options
• Schema conversion
• Cross-mapping of data from multiple databases
• Unlimited scale for job execution
• Support for data governance and validation of quality

Best Application Use Cases:

• Huge data transformation/cleanup of data during migration
• Organizations consolidating multiple databases into one.

Limitations:

• Substantial infrastructure expense
• Requires ETL specialists for maximum scale.

8. Striim

Striim offers businesses a way to migrate their data in near-real time or by using continuous data capture (CDC). It’s  allows for the capture of data changes that occur on source systems which are immediately replicated and made available for analysis.

Key Features

• The immediate ability to replicate all current data on a company’s system.
• A dashboard tool allows companies to monitor the migration process continually.
• The platform can be used to support the migration and processing of high-volume, mission critical applications.

Typical Use Cases

• This tool is recommended for companies performing a migration with no downtime.
• Healthcare applications or other applications within financial services industries would use this tool as a solution to help provide redundancy when migrating data and offer high availability.

Core Migration Capabilities that Enterprises Should Consider

In order to successfully migrate an enterprise’s data between systems, migration tools must provide:

• Change Data Capture
• Schema Versioning
• Automated Replication
• Role-Based Security
• Data Transfer Verification
• Monitor Dashboard Tools
• Rollback Capability
• Validate Data and Accuracy
• Incremental Synchronization
• Cross-Region Migration Capability
• Compliance Mapping (GDPR, PCI, etc.)

Conclusion

A successful enterprise database migration requires more than just transferring data – a successful enterprise database migration must be conducted securely, accurately, efficiently and at scale with minimal disruption to operations. The introduction of new technical solutions such as AWS DMS, Azure Migrate, Google DMS, Flyway, Liquibase, Talend, Fivetran, and Databricks represent a sea change in how large-scale migrations can be accomplished. Automation, real-time synchronization, schema-control, and enterprise-grade reliability are just a few examples of the advantages provided by these new technical solutions.

If your organization is planning a large-scale database transformation, finding the appropriate tool for your migration project is only half of the success. The other half of your success will be contingent upon the development of a well-defined migration process that includes planning, testing, execution and post-migration optimization, and these solutions excel when used properly.
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