DrupalCon Sydney 2013: Enterprise Drupal Migrations: Lessons from Large Scale Migrations

With sweat pouring down your brow you hover over the button that will launch you into the history books of web site wizardry, or be your epitaph in the cold dark tombs of project failure. Your client looks at you expectantly from across the table... you hesitate... you've tested your scripts 100 times, you've made sure the data was clean... you've had the client validate your trials so far. Yet still, your mind is racing. Did you miss something? It's launch day, and in just a few hours the whole wold will be able to see your triumph or your failure. Are you ready?

Of course site launches aren't all just code and there is no single "easy button". There are requirements, content, designs, features, servers, DNS entries, and CLIENTS! Few Drupal site launches are truly "from scratch". There are likely thousands of bits of content to migrate stretching back from before anyone heard of the terms "structured data" or "CMS". Preparation isn't just the responsibility of the dev team either, and we'll explore how and when clients should get involved. Further, we'll take a look at the process and tools to help assess, plan, and deliver a successful migration. Bottom line, this session will help everyone be more confident when "pressing the button".

This session is geared toward clients and developers wanting to know more about how to make migrations successful. It's focus is on the strategy, process, and tools that both sides of the table need to make their migration more successful.

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