Nowadays, Magento online businesses are always looking for different ways to improve the efficiency of the company processes and team members. Since Magento has officially announced the end of life for Magento 1 in June 2020, it is your responsibility to make a considered, secure decision about the next steps for upgrading the digital platform.
Data migration is a common if unnecessary step towards e-store improvement and growth. However, data import can become a time-consuming and challenging task. So, in order to avoid unexpected circumstances like data loss or running over the deadline, it is essential to find the right migration tool or service to perform a task. Thus, let’s find out the main steps of Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration, as well as what actions to take before and after transfer.
5 Reasons for Magento 2 Upgrade
Migrating Magento 2 store to the latest version is not only a pressing matter today, but a possibility to expand your online shop functionality and boost sales. So, considering the most common signs when moving to Magento 2 is highly recommended for your online business:
#1 Increased Website Visitors Flow
If you experience slow website load each time a number of customers suddenly grows, then upgrading to Magento 2 should become an inevitable part of your business strategy. It is well-known that the slow load of the online store has a negative impact on user experience and conversion rates.
#2 Outdated Functionality Options
Since Magento 1 discontinued releasing the new capabilities, and Magento will eventually stop supporting it, the investments made in the platform will have to be replaced. So, the longer you wait to perform Magento 2 migration, the costlier the upgrade will become in the future.
#3 Improved Admin Panel
If managing your online store takes too much time and effort, the new admin panel of Magento 2 can simplify the task with a more user-friendly interface. It is separated into several major categories and subcategories that enable you to organize and navigate the panel easily. The step-by-step product creation tools provide you with an opportunity to add products to your e-shop almost 4 times faster.
#4 Better Checkout Experience
The Magento 2 checkout process takes only two steps that speed up the checkout time and minimize the amount of information the clients have to fill out. As a result, you can notice the sales increase, improved user experience, and fewer interruptions during the checkout procedure. To be more specific, Magento 2 enables you with the following benefits:
- automatic guest checkout;
- order summary with thumbnails;
- shipping rates are automatically applied to carts;
- account setup process is streamlined to one click, etc.
Also, if you want to enhance your checkout process with more functionality options, you can take advantage of Magento 2 Checkout Success Page Extension and boost even more sales.
#5 Easier Maintenance and Upgrades
The improved architecture of the Magento 2 platform offers you less expensive and time-consuming upgrades. In addition, compared to Magento 1.х versions, installing new plugins has become simpler and cheaper as well. The functionality can be modified more easily too, thanks to HTML5, Less, require.js, and CSS3. As a result, the reduced costs can be invested in other areas of your online business for further improvements.
All in all, if you notice that the online business needs the above-mentioned improvements, then it’s time to perform Magento 2 migration. Since the data switch of an e-commerce platform can be a challenging task, the thorough planning and preparation steps should become an inevitable part of the process.
How to Get Ready for Magento 2 Database Migration
Now, when you have made a decision to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2, what are the steps that have to be taken to perform the procedure smoothly? Among a list of suggestions, let’s figure out the most critical aspects of how to prepare your online shop for an upcoming change.
Determine the main stages
Outline the migration plan and set up a flexible schedule. Place the most complicated tasks up front and address them in accordance with their importance. For instance: look through the records that require cleansing.
Identify the database size
The data import can’t go too far without a thorough analysis of Magento entities. So, define how many items should be migrated. The process will help you find a starting point for data quality and reveal potential database issues.
Prepare data backup
Since Magento records are the core of the future database, it is your responsibility to avoid any data loss. Hence, create a backup of the online store information and keep it even after the migration is completed.
Review Magento extensions
With a wide range of Magento 2 extensions that can be installed on your online store, it is recommended to go through the plugins and identify if you need all of them. The old plugins can be removed. Also, you should check whether Magento 2 versions of your extensions exist before running the migration.
Make your online store ready
The next step is to install Magento 2.x with all extensions of this release and the Data Migration Tool that meets the Magento system requirements. In case, you do not need to move some data like Sales Rules, CMS Pages, etc., or want to convert Magento customization during migration, you can make custom adjustments to the Data Migration Tool.
Test Magento 2 data migration
Before launching the data import on the production environment, it is suggested to run the test migration and check the process in action. In this case, consider the following steps:
- Copy your Magento 1 store to a staging server
- Fully move the replicated Magento 1 records to Magento 2
- Test new online shop thoroughly
Notify your employees
It is important to announce the upcoming Magento 2 upgrade to your team and explain how the online business can benefit from the change. Also, you can provide additional information, tutorials, visuals, etc. to show the difference between M1 and M2. It is suggested to train your employees using a new platform to improve user experience and help your team adjust to changes easily.
Magento 1 to Magento 2 Migration: Step by Step Guide
After all pre-migration activities are performed, you can start to run your Magento 2 data import by taking the following actions:
1. Check if the Data Migration Tool has network access to connect to M1 and M2 databases. Also, open the corresponding ports in your firewall.
2. Stop all activities in Magento 1.x Admin Panel, except the order management like shipping, credit memos, creating invoices, and much more. A list of allowed activities can be adjusted in the Delta mode settings in the data migration tool. These activities must not be resumed until your Magento 2 online shop goes live.
3. It is suggested to stop all Magento 1.x cron jobs. However, if some jobs are required to run during the transfer, you should ensure they do not create the new database records or change the existing ones in the way that such entities cannot be processed by the Delta mode. For example, enterprise_salesarchive_archive_orders cron job moves old orders to the archive. Running this job during migration is safe because the Delta mode takes the job into account and properly processes the archived orders.
4. Take advantage of the data Migration Tool to move settings and websites.
5. Copy your Magento 1.x media files to Magento 2.x. Copy these files manually from magento1-root/media directory to magento2-root/pub/media.
6. Bulk copy the records from Magento 1 to Magento 2 by using the Data Migration Tool.
7. In case some of your extensions have the entities you want to migrate, you might need to install these plugins adapted for Magento 2. If the modules obtain a different structure in Magento 2 database, you can use the mapping files provided in the Data Migration Tool.
8. Then, reindex all Magento 2.x indexers. Find more info here.
Getting to Work with Magento 2: Post-Migration Arrangements
When the migration steps are behind, it is important to take a few more actions to make sure your new platform will be working properly:
1. Put your Magento 1 in maintenance mode (it is the start of the website downtime).
Note, if you want to make any customizations in your Magento 2 store after migration, it is essential to practice caution while working through manual data changes. The mistakes may create errors in the incremental data migration step that follows.
a) in order to enable maintenance mode in Magento 1, run the command:
touch maintenance.flag
b) if you want to disable maintenance mode in Magento 1, execute the command:
rm maintenance.flag2. Capture data updates that have been added in Magento 1 incrementally. After that, move these updates to Magento 2 with the help of Delta mode:
- after you start the incremental migration, the updates will run continually. If you decide to stop transferring the updates, press “Ctrl+C”;
- test your Magento 2 website to explore any possible issues at this point of the import process. If you determine any problems, press “Ctrl+C” to stop incremental transfer and start it again after the issues are resolved.
5. Start your Magento 2 cron jobs:
a) run the command:
crontab -eb) insert the following commands into crontab:
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/magento2/bin/magento cron:run | grep -v Ran jobs by schedule >> /var/www/html/magento2/var/log/magento.cron.log
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/magento2/update/cron.php >> /var/www/html/magento2/var/log/update.cron.log
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/magento2/bin/magento setup:cron:run >> /var/www/html/magento2/var/log/setup.cron.logNote,
- /usr/bin/php should be replaced with your PHP path;
- /var/www/html/magento2/ should be replaced with the path to your Magento 2 directory.
6. Run the reindex with the following command:
php bin/magento indexer:reindex
7. Set up the Cache tools of your choice like Redis, Varnish, etc.
8. Run any final verifications of your Magento 2 online store.
9. Change DNS, load balancers, and so on to point to new production hardware (it is the end of your website downtime).
As you can see, migration to Magento 2 may seem a daunting task that includes a number of actions to run an effective data import. In order to avoid missing any details and exclude the pitfalls, you can take advantage of third-party tools and services. Plumrocket’s friendly and professional team offers you to take advantage of Magento 2 Migration Services to perform fast and secure data transfers without any hassles.
Wrapping Up
The decision of migrating to Magento 2 is critical, as well as requiring the time and effort for preparing your business, team, and budget. So, it is significant to set up clear business objectives and build a workable plan for a successful migration. Since Magento 2 data import can lead to efficient benefits related to revenue enhancements, reach the desired results with Plumrocket Magento 2 Migration Services. Open up new business opportunities today!
