How to Migrate File Server to SharePoint Online [Expert Guide]

Switching to SharePoint entails more than simply transferring all of your data to a cloud server: it’s a completely new browser-based environment linked to your company’s Microsoft 365 account.

While this offers many new features and capabilities, it also has an impact on every aspect of file use, and collaborative task and effort that relies on direct access to a network file.

Migrating to SharePoint Online may necessitate the utilization of a professional SharePoint online migration service provider.

As an end-user, you’ll most likely notice changes. The navigation system is designed differently because you’re accessing via the cloud, and load times are going to be somewhat impacted.

These variances are less likely to pose serious issues, but they’re still worth thinking about: Does a lag time of even 1-2 seconds have an effect on your workflow?

Before you migrate, you should consider all of these factors.

What is a File Server? (And What are the Drawbacks?)

SharePoint Online is a cloud-based file storage and collaboration platform that allows users to share, manage, and collaborate on documents in real time.

SharePoint Online differs from an on-premises file server in that it saves your files in the Microsoft cloud, whereas a file server normally stores them on your onsite network or in an offsite data center for enhanced protection.

Businesses have traditionally utilized on-premises file servers to allow employees to store and access data on a shared drive rather than on their own hard disks.

While this was a significant advancement in business technology at the time, there are various disadvantages to having a shared drive, including duplicate documents, limited metadata, no ability for end-users to adjust permissions, and a lack of search options.

As a result, a solution to boost both efficiency and productivity was required — Microsoft SharePoint.

Traditional file servers have gaps in collaboration; the files are frequently copied and duplicated, outdated versions are mistaken for the most recent rendition, and so on.

All of these things stymie teamwork; they produce communication snafus and can seriously jeopardize the efficiency of the company’s work processes, impacting the bottom line of key knowledge worker efficiency.

It’s critical to plan your migration result by doing an assessment of your present source environment before you begin.

What you learn will have an impact on your entire strategy and timeline, including:

• a) The mapping between source and target systems, as well as the architecture of the target environment.
• b) The quantity of data you’re migrating. Determine if the material is outdated, redundant, or still relevant.

Make user onboarding a part of your initial planning. Inform your users about the move and how it will affect them as soon as possible.

Don’t put off preparing them for the change until go live.

How to Migrate from File Server to SharePoint Online?

Step 1: Do Your Homework First

Yes, there is an appeal to just pushing the Migrate button and informing your employer that you’ve done it, but one can’t migrate content without considering the information architecture, among other things.

We couldn’t possibly express all that needed to be accomplished in a single paragraph.

We have written a great deal about this in the past. At a high level, one must ensure that there is an understanding of how the envisioned SharePoint Information Architecture will function.

Lastly, the sites, document libraries, and metadata need to be realized and surfaced for end-user utilization.

Step 2: Select and Configure a Migration Tool

There is a range of commercial 3rd party tools available for content migration.

The selection of the appropriate tool depends on the content source, the volume of content, permissions needs, reporting needs, metadata tagging requirements, and budget.

For guidance in selecting the appropriate migration tool, consider consulting a reliable SharePoint development company like Reality Tech.

There is then the server sizing and configuration and license management of the migration tool.

 Step 3: Perform Your Test Migration

The initial test migration enables one to baseline throughput. With this information, the actual migration of these metrics is key and reflects both the existing network throughput as well as Office 365 SharePoint throughput.

The migration process should always begin with a test migration, as a sanity test on the network, latencies, tools, environment, configuration, throughput, and end-user experience.

The primary risk of the migration is Office 365 throttling.  This occurs in both reading from the source and writing to the destination.  To some extent, this can be optimized by extended efforts, especially during off-peak hours.

Step 4: Plan the Migration

If the volume of content exceeds the throughput that can be migrated in a single weekend as determined during baseline migration testing, then migration in phases is recommended.

Migration in phases allows content map creation, which ensures that each team understands the content transformation as it migrates from the source file server to the new SharePoint environment.

The process of migrating a single group of content as a discrete phase is not only manageable but also reduces the limitations for larger migrations and reduces the number of users impacted on any given weekend cutover.

The following activities are part of the migration planning process:

A. Inventory

In order to migrate, we need to identify what will be migrated, and what will be left in place or archived and not migrated.

This leads then to the design of mapping, from source to proposed destination.

B. Long URL analysis

Efforts to the surface where long URLs may be an obstacle.  Approaches to remediate and address found instances.

These may include proposed hierarchy flattening, or shortening/renaming key folder nodes.

C. Orphan Accounts

Review of handling of accounts that are inactive. Disabled accounts are a known challenge for migration on tagging documents during migration.

This will require some discussion and review of options and setting expectations.

D. Exception Planning

Planning for an approach to handle exceptional situations is needed in advance. One aspect is simply planning for end-user coordination, as well as a general approach to handling with or without user involvement.

This covers topics such as:

• Blocked File Extensions
• Very Large Files

E. Site Architecture

Planning for a Site Collection approach, for the appropriate granularity in support of the migration in planned phases:

• Site Collection granularity, in planning for long-term future growth
• URL design
• Site Template
• Possible site hierarchy
• Possible security consolidation and simplification
• Navigation, and possible use of Hub site(s)

F. Project Planning

• Migration planning, sequence, cut-over planning, and communication
• Identification of critical path and optimized sequencing of efforts

G. Risk Management

Identification of key risks and mitigation activities

H. Estimation of Remaining Migration Stages

Refined estimation of effort and duration for migrating each department (LOB)

The changeover process in a SharePoint migration plan includes:

• Stopping workflows that are identified for migration
• Initial migration
• Delta migrations
• Changing the setting of the source to read-only

Step 5: Initial Migration

The initial migration surfaces migration issues and related migration failures, that are successively addressed.

Once a successful initial migration is completed, changes are made at the source, and any remaining errors, are addressed in the delta migrations.

Typically a delta migration is done daily, up until the migration cutover.

The actual delta frequency is determined by the content sizing, and duration to both analyze the prior migration results and duration to execute the delta migration.

The bulk of the project duration will be on the migration of content.

The approach is to initially move the maximum amount of content, and only when close to cutover, do the final updates to the destination known as the “Delta” migration. This Delta is the final sync-up of content.

Step 6: Delta Migration

The final true-up of content is done and finalized and prepared for the transition.  This is done repeatedly leading up to the cutover.

Typically the delta is applied based on the date of the initial migration (or prior delta).

 Conclusion:

It is recommended but time-consuming to migrate from old-school file sharing to SharePoint. The majority of the work is in the analysis.

Migration is an opportunity to examine all of the content on your file shares in detail and make careful decisions on what to migrate, what to archive, and what to eliminate.

Speak with Professional SharePoint experts about archiving or removing outdated or duplicate material, restructuring for a more coherent organization of content, creating an information architecture in SharePoint, and utilizing all of SharePoint’s and Microsoft 365’s great new capabilities!